Arbuscular mycorrhiza mitigates zinc stress on Eucalyptus grandis through regulating metal tolerance protein gene expression and ionome uptake.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are symbionts of most terrestrial plants and enhance their adaptability in metal-contaminated soils. In this study, mycorrhized and non-mycorrhized Eucalyptus grandis were grown under different Zn treatments. After 6 weeks of treatment, the growing status and ionome content of plants as well as the expression patterns of metal tolerance proteins and auxin biosynthesis-related genes were measured. In this study, mycorrhized E. grandis showed higher biomass and height at a high level of Zn compared with non-mycorrhized plants. In addition, AM plants accumulated P, Mg, and Mn in roots and P, Fe, and Cu in shoots, which indicate that AM fungi facilitate the uptake of ionome nutrients to promote plant growth. In addition, mycorrhiza upregulated the expression of EgMTP1 and EgMTP7, whose encoding proteins were predicted to be located at the vacuolar membrane. Meanwhile, Golgi membrane transporter EgMTP5 was also induced in AM shoot. Our results suggest that AM likely mitigates Zn toxicity through sequestrating excess Zn into vacuolar and Golgi. Furthermore, the expression of auxin biosynthesis-related genes was facilitated by AM, and this is probably another approach for Zn tolerance.

Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2D6*10 and the effectiveness of combined tamoxifen citrate and testosterone undecanoate treatment in infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia.

Tamoxifen citrate, as the first line of treatment for infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia, was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO), and testosterone undecanoate has shown benefits in semen values. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of treatment with tamoxifen citrate and testosterone undecanoate in infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia, and whether the results would be affected by polymorphisms of CYP2D6*10. A total of 230 infertile men and 147 controls were included in the study. Patients were treated with tamoxifen citrate and testosterone undecanoate. Sex hormone, sperm parameters, and incidence of spontaneous pregnancy were detected. There were no significant differences between the control and patient groups with respect to CYP2D6*10 genotype frequencies (P>0.05). The follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone (T) levels were raised, and sperm concentration and motility were increased at 3 months and became significant at 6 months, and they were higher in the wild-type allele (C/C) than in the heterozygous variant allele (C/T) or homozygous variant allele (T/T) subgroups (P<0.05). In addition, the percentage of normal morphology was raised at 6 months, and represented the highest percentage in the C/C subgroup (P<0.05). The incidence of spontaneous pregnancy in the C/C subgroup was higher than that in the C/T or T/T subgroups (P<0.01). This study showed that the CYP2D6*10 variant genotype demonstrated worse clinical effects in infertile men with idiopathic oligozoospermia.

[Clinical evaluation of BTAstat, NMP22, HA, survivin, CD44v6, vEGF and VUC in bladder cancer diagnosis].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of BTAstat, NMP22, HA, Survivin, CD44v6, VEGF, and VUC in detection of bladder cancer. METHODS: We detect VUC, BTAstat, NMP22, HA, Survivin, CD44v6, VEGF in the urine of 10 normal case (healthy volunteers), 11 benign urological diseases patients and 52 bladder cancer patients. The sensitivity, specificity the coefficient of variation, the examining time duration and the checking costs of each marker and combined markers were assessed to evaluate the clinical value. RESULTS: There is a significant difference between the cancer group and the two control groups. The overall sensitivity and specificity of urinary tumor markers were: 42.3% and 100% for VUC; 78.8% and 90.5% for BTAstat; 76.9% and 81.0% for NMP22; 86.5% and 90.5% for HA; 67.3% and 85.7% for Survivin; 50.5% and 85.7% for CD44 and 69.2% and 95.2% for VEGF. The highest sensitivity of combined markers was 96.2% for NMP22 + HA and HA + CD44v6, whereas the lowest sensitivity of combined markers was 67.3% for VUC + CD44v6. The highest specificity (95.2%) was the combined use of VUC + NMP22 and combined use of VUC + VEGF, whereas, method that achieved the lowest specificity (66.7%) was the combined use of HA + Survivin. The most convenient examining method was the detection for BTAstat; the lowest cost examining method was the detection for HA; methods which had the best repeatability were the detection for BTAstat and urine cytology examination. CONCLUSION: Each marker had achieved its obvious clinical value in diagnosis of bladder cancer. The sensitivity of all the markers was increased with the progression of tumor grades and clinical stages, except the CD44v6. The combined use of BATstat and HA is the best examining method concerning sensitivity, specificity, feasibility and cost in each different method.