[The effect of Ba Duan Jin on the balance of community-dwelling older adults: a cluster randomized control trial].

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a 6-month Ba Duan Jin exercise program in improving the balance of community-dwelling older adults. Methods: A two arms, parallel-group, cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in 1 028 community residents aged 60-80 years in 40 communities in 5 provinces of China. Participants in the intervention group (20 communities, 523 people) received Ba Duan Jin exercise 5 days/week, 1 hour/day for 6 months, and three times of falls prevention health education, and the control group (20 communities, 505 people) received falls prevention health education same as the intervention group. The Berg balance scale (BBS) score was the leading outcome indicator, and the secondary outcome indicators included the length of time of standing on one foot (with eyes open and closed), standing in a tandem stance (with eyes open and closed), the closed circle test, and the timed up to test. Results: A total of 1 028 participants were included in the final analysis, including 731 women (71.11%) and 297 men (28.89%), and the age was (69.87±5.67) years. After the 3-month intervention, compared with the baseline data, the BBS score of the intervention group was significantly higher than the control group by 3.05 (95%CI: 2.23-3.88) points (P<0.001). After the 6-month intervention, compared with the baseline data, the BBS score of the intervention group was significantly higher than the control group by 4.70 (95%CI: 4.03-5.37) points (P<0.001). Ba Duan Jin showed significant improvement (P<0.05) in all secondary outcomes after 6 months of exercise in the intervention group compared with the control group. Conclusions: This study showed that Ba Duan Jin exercise can improve balance in community-dwelling older adults aged 60-80. The longer the exercise time, the better the improvement.

[Application of spontaneous acrosome reaction of sperm in prediction of outcome of in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical application of spontaneous acrosome reaction (AR) rate of sperm in predicting the outcome of in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). METHODS: The spontaneous AR rate of the sperm of patients who underwent IVF-ET treatment in our center during the period from November to December 2014 were studied. The cut-off value from 6% to 12% were set and analyzed its association between the IVF-ET outcomes (including fertility rates, normal fertilization rates and high-quality embryo rates). For those who underwent fresh embryo transplantation, the rates of chemical pregnancy and clinical pregnancy were calculated, and compared the spontaneous AR rates and quantity of acrosomal enzyme according to the pregnancy outcome. RESULTS: There were 202 patients in this study and the mean spontaneous AR rate was 5.99%±5.18%. For patients with the spontaneous AR rate ≥9% versus <9%, the fertility rate, normal fertilization rate and high-quality embryo rate were 81.33% vs 83.85%, 60.53% vs 60.99%, and 51.10% vs 59.67%, respectively, with statistically significant difference in the high-quality embryo rate (P=0.02). For patients who underwent fresh embryo transplantation, when comparison was made between those with spontaneous AR rate ≥8% and those <8%, the rate of chemical pregnancy and clinical pregnancy were 48.57% (17/35) vs 69.64% (78/112) and 37.14% (13/35) vs 63.39% (71/112), respectively, both with statistically significant difference (P=0.02 and P<0.01). The patients with clinical pregnancy had lower spontaneous AR rate than those without clinical pregnancy (5.41%±3.87% vs 7.40%±6.79%, P=0.04), while the quantity of acrosomal enzyme showed no significant difference [(131.79±68.50) vs (153.62±59.59) µU/10(6,) P=0.06]. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated association between spontaneous AR rates and clinical pregnancy (OR=0.93, 95%CI: 0.87-0.99, P=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The spontaneous AR rate of sperm may have clinical significance in predicting the outcome of IVF-ET, as it is reversely correlated with IVF high-quality embryo rate and pregnancy rate. The quantity of acrosomal enzyme may not have significant predictive value for the outcome of IVF.

Analysis of gene expression patterns and levels in maize hybrids and their parents.

Heterosis has greatly contributed to conventional plant breeding and is widely used to increase crop plant productivity. However, although some studies have explored the mechanisms of heterosis at the genomic and transcriptome level, these mechanisms still remain unclear. The growth and development of maize seedlings and immature embryos have an important impact on subsequent production. This study investigated differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between parents and reciprocal hybrids in the seedling leaves, roots, and immature embryo 15 days after pollination using amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP)-based transcript profiling (cDNA-AFLP). We isolated 180, 170, and 108 genes from the leaves, roots, and immature embryos, respectively, that were differentially expressed between hybrids and parents. Sequencing and functional analysis revealed that 107 transcript-derived fragments in the roots and leaves and 90 in the immature embryos were involved in known functions, whereas many DEGs had roles in plant growth and development, photosynthesis, signal transduction, and seed germination. Quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis of relative expression levels between reciprocal hybrids and both parental genotypes of selected genes produced results that were consistent with cDNA-AFLP. We validated the expression patterns of 15 selected genes related to heterosis formation and revealed that most showed non-additive expression in one or both hybrids, including dominant, underdominant, and overdominant expression. This indicates that gene-regulatory interactions among parental alleles play an important role in heterosis during the early developmental stages of maize.

Analysis of DNA methylation patterns and levels in maize hybrids and their parents.

Heterosis is the superior performance of heterozygous individuals and has been widely exploited in plant breeding, although the underlying regulatory mechanisms still remain largely elusive. To understand the molecular basis of heterosis in maize, in this study, roots and leaves at the seedling stage and embryos and endosperm tissues 15 days after fertilization of 2 elite hybrids and their parental lines were used to estimate the levels and patterns of cytosine methylation by the methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism method. The relative total methylation levels were lower in all the tissues of all hybrids than their corresponding mid-parent values, and the number of demethylation events was higher in the hybrids. These results implied that the decreasing trend and demethylation in hybrids relative to their parents may enable the derepression and possibly expression of many genes that were associated with the phenotypic variation in hybrids. To further analyze the observed methylation pattern changes, a total of 63 differentially displayed DNA fragments were successfully sequenced. Basic Local Alignment Search Tool analysis showed that 11 fragments shared similarity with known functional proteins in maize or other plant species, including metabolism, transposon/retrotransposon, development, stress response, and signal transduction, which indicated that these genes might play a significant role in maize hybrid vigor.

Cloning and characterization of a ß-amyrin synthase gene from the medicinal tree Aralia elata (Araliaceae).

Aralia elata is an important medicinal plant in China; it produces large amounts of oleanane type triterpene saponins. A full-length cDNA encoding ß-amyrin synthase (designated as AeAS) was isolated from young leaves of A. elata by reverse transcription-PCR. The full-length cDNA of AeAS was found to have a 2292-bp open reading frame, encoding a protein with 763 amino acid residues. The deduced amino acid sequence of AeAS showed the highest identity (97%) to Panax ginseng ß-amyrin synthase. When AeAS cDNA was expressed in Escherichia coli, an 87.8-kDa recombinant protein was detected by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. The sequence was also heterologously expressed in the yeast Pichia pastoris, and production of ß-amyrin was detected by HPLC. Tissue expression pattern analysis by real-time reverse transcription-PCR revealed that AeAS is strongly expressed in leaves and stems, and weakly expressed in roots and flowers.

[Analysis of the protein/polypeptide in Culex pipiens pallens (Diptera:Culicidae) during hibernation by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis].

Analysis on the protein/polypeptide in Culex pipiens pallens (Diptera: Culicidae) caught from the resting or overwintering places during the 3rd ten-day of September, the 2nd ten-day of December and the 1st ten-day of March in next year in Zhengzhou (34 degrees 43' N, 113 degrees 39' E) during hibernation by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis indicated that there were 153, 118 and 169 protein/polypeptide spots in unoverwintering, overwintering and recovering mosquitoes respectively. The molecular weight (MW) of most of the spots was less than 43.0 kDa, with isoelectric points (pI) between 5.65-7.34. The comparisons between each two types of mosquitoes during hibernation revealed that the variant rate of protein/polypeptide spots between overwintering and recovering mosquitoes (31.01%) was significantly higher than that between unoverwintering and recovering females (21.12%) (P < 0.05). The variant spots were 13 in unoverwintering, 7 in overwintering and 27 in recovering mosquitoes respectively. The comparisons among three types of mosquitoes during hibernation showed that the variant rate was significantly higher in recovering females (15.98%) than in unoverwintering (8.50%) (P < 0.05) and overwintering females (5.93%) (P < 0.01). The total variant rate of protein/polypeptide spots of all these three types of mosquitoes was 10.68%. Because the blood meal of all the mosquitoes used for homogenization was at Sella 1 (empty), and the ovary development was under Christophers II (resting stage), the experimental results were not affected by blood meal and the later ovary development (Christophers II-V).

[Detection of serum antibodies in rats infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis by indirect fluorescent antibody test].

Frozen section specimens with a thickness of 4 microns were made from adult worms of Angiostrongylus cantonensis in order to detect the serum antibodies in rats infected with Angiostrongylus cantonensis by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). The results showed that the positive rates of the serum samples 2 and 4 weeks after infection were 92.0% (46/50) and 100%(19/19), respectively. The results of serum samples in healthy rats and normal saline (as control) were negative. This technique proved to have a highly detectable rate and the positive reaction might occur in early infection. It might be used for the early supplementary diagnosis of angiostrongyliasis.

[Variations of free amino acids in hemolymph of Culex pipiens pallens during overwintering period].

An analysis of the amino acids present in the hemolymph of Culex pipiens pallens caught from resting or overwintering places (blood meal: Sella 1, i.e. empty; ovary stage: under Christophers IIb) in Zhengzhou (34 degrees 43'N, 113 degrees 39E) indicated that 19, 18 and 18 kinds of free amino acids (FAAs) were detected during stages of preoverwintering, overwintering and postoverwintering respectively. Comparison of hemolymph amino acids between overwintering and preoverwintering stages revealed that the concentrations of the total FAAs and FAAs reduced significantly in overwintering except cystine and proline. The concentrations of cystine and proline during preoverwintering were 0.1563 +/- 0.0021 nmol/microliter and 22.2467 +/- 1.3537 nmol/microliter, but 0.2067 +/- 0.0058 nmol/microliter and 36.5467 +/- 0.4654 nmol/microliters during overwintering respectively. Comparison of hemolymph amino acids between postoverwintering and overwintering stages showed that the concentrations of all FAAs and total FAAs increased significantly during postoverwintering stage, and the concentrations of aspartic acid, glumatic acid, alanine, cystine, proline and total FAAs even exceeded those during preoverwintering stage respectively.

[Experimental study on detection of serum antibodies by immunoenzyme staining using adult Angiostrongylus cantonensis frozen section].

This paper reported on the results of detection of serum antibodies in rats with Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection by immunoenzyme staining of adult frozen section. The positive rates of serum antibodies in rats 2 and 4 weeks after infection were 80% and 93.3%, respectively. The result of healthy control rats was negative.

[Variations in reproductive capacity, gonotrophic cycle and longevity of Anopheles sinensis infected by Brugia malayi larvae].

Under the experimental conditions of 26 +/- 10 degrees C, relative humidity 70-80%, 100 +/- 20 Lux and photoperiod 16 hours/day and using a membrane feeding method, the development of filarial larvae and the variations in reproductive capacity, gonotrophic cycle and longevity of An. sinensis infected with microfilariae of Brugia malayi were observed. The infection rate and infection intensity of filarial larvae in An. sinensis increased with the microfilarial density in the blood meal from 50 to 150 mf/20 microliters. The mature rate and IEI decreased when the density rose to 200 mg/20 microliters. The concentration ratio of mf in blood by An. sinensis was 1.2-1.4. In the 3rd gonotrophic cycle, the feeding ratio of infected mosquitoes became lower when the mf density rose to 150 mf/20 microliters, but the infection of filarial did not affect the number of oviposition, the regularity of egg-production activity and the hatching rate of eggs, while the quantity of egg-production increased when the mf density was 150 mf/20 microliters. The egg-production rate, and gonotrophic cycle were not basically influenced by filarial larvae infection. The multifeeding ratio was 16.7-48.4% in An. sinensis. The longevity of An. sinensis was extended by infection with mf density of 100 mf/20 microliters and shortened in infection with mf density of 200 mf/20 microliters. The authors conclude that "Brugia malayi-Anopheles sinensis" is a highly adapted "pathogen-vector" system.