Composition, metabolism and postharvest function and regulation of fruit cuticle: A review.

The cuticle of plants, a hydrophobic membrane that covers their aerial organs, is crucial to their ability to withstand biotic and abiotic stressors. Fruit is the reproductive organ of plants, and an important dietary source that can offer a variety of nutrients for the human body, and fruit cuticle performs a crucial protective role in fruit development and postharvest quality. This review discusses the universality and diversity of the fruit cuticle composition, and systematically summarizes the metabolic process of fruit cuticle, including the biosynthesis, transport and regulatory factors (including transcription factors, phytohormones and environmental elements) of fruit cuticle. Additionally, we emphasize the postharvest functions and postharvest regulatory technologies of fruit cuticle, and propose future research directions for fruit cuticle.

Youhaiella tibetensis gen. nov., sp. nov., isolated from subsurface sediment.

A Gram-reaction-negative bacterial strain, designated fig4(T), was isolated from a subsurface sediment core of Qiangtang Basin permafrost in China. Cells were catalase- and oxidase-positive and rods. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that strain fig4(T )was a member of the family Hyphomicrobiaceae and was most closely related to members of the genera Pelagibacterium, Vasilyevaea and Devosia with 93.8-96.2% sequence similarities. The major cellular fatty acids were C16 : 0, C18 : 0, 11-methyl C18 : 1 ω7c, C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c and summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c). The major respiratory quinone was Q-10 and the major polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol and two unknown glycolipids. The DNA G+C content was 60.7 mol%. Based on the phenotypic, phylogenetic and genotypic data, strain fig4(T) is considered to represent a novel species of a new genus in the family Hyphomicrobiaceae, for which the name Youhaiella tibetensis gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is fig4(T) ( = CGMCC 1.12719(T) = JCM 19854(T)).

Aberrant miR-215 expression is associated with clinical outcome in breast cancer patients.

Dysregulation of microRNA plays critical roles in various malignancies. However, whether the aberrant expression of miR-215 in breast cancer is associated with malignancy, metastasis, or prognosis remains unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that the relative level of miR-215 expression was lower in cancer tissues compared with adjacent non-malignant tissues (p < 0.001). Low-miR-215 expression was observed to be closely correlated with higher tumor grade (p = 0.008), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positivity (p = 0.006), HER2 positive breast cancer subtype (p = 0.016), and lymph node metastasis (p = 0.039). Moreover, patients with low-miR-215 expression showed shorter 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS) than the high-miR-215 expression group (p = 0.007). Multivariate analysis results revealed that miR-215 downexpression was an unfavorable prognostic factor for DSS in addition to tumor size, ER, and lymph node metastasis. Our results support the potential of miR-215 as a prognostic predictor for breast cancer with its high expression in cancer tissues and its relationship with other clinicopathologic factors and survival.

[A retrospective analysis of clinic-pathological characteristics and prognostic factor for 137 cases of breast cancer brain metastasis].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis in breast cancer with brain metastasis (BCBM). METHODS: The clinical data of 137 BCBM from June 2002 to June 2008 was reviewed and analyzed. Their molecular subtypes were categorized based on detection of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) expression. The focal area included 35 cases of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), 38 cases of HR (ER and PR) (-)/HER-2(+), 40 cases of HR(+)/HER-2(-), 24 cases of HR(+)/HER-2(+). The clinical characteristics and the outcome in patients with influence were analyzed. RESULTS: In 137 BCBM, the median overal survival after brain metastasis was 6.5 month. The median survivals of TNBC, HR(-)/HER-2(+), HR(+)/HER-2(-) and HR(+)/HER-2(+) were 5.0, 5.5, 10.0 and 9.5 months, respectively. The median survivals after brain metastasis of the breast cancer patients who received the combination therapy of whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) and neurosurgery and/or stereotactic radiosurgery, received WBRT but not combination therapy and didn't receive WBRT were 15.0, 9.5 and 4.0 months, respectively. In univariate survival analysis, substyle, number of brain metastasis, brain metastasis as initial recurrence or not, brain-only metastases or not, the combination therapy status after brain metastasis were obviously correlated with the prognosis (χ(2) = 6.891 to 29.414, P < 0.05). Substyle (RR = 1.234, 95%CI: 1.057 to 1.440) and the combination therapy status after brain metastasis (RR = 1.838, 95%CI: 1.389 to 2.431) were independent prognostic factor in multivariable analysis (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: TNBC confers a high risk of death after brain metastases. Systemic treatment via combined modalities are helpful for breast cancer patients, even after the detection of brain metastases.

Adult hepatoblastoma: systemic review of the English literature.

AIMS: To review all the case reports or case series of patients with adult hepatoblastoma. METHODS: A search of all case reports on adult hepatoblastoma in the English literature was performed using the PubMed database. Demographic information, clinical findings, treatment modalities and outcomes were extracted and analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 36 English articles and 40 patients with adult hepatoblastoma were collected. All these cases were confirmed by pathological diagnosis. The median age of the 40 patients was 41.5 years, including 21 males and 19 females. Hepatitis B virus tests were positive in 6 patients, and 15 patients were positive for α-fetoprotein (AFP). Liver cirrhosis was only confirmed in 7 cases. Hepatoblastoma commonly forms a single giant mass within the liver. Twenty-three cases underwent radical liver resection, including 9 cases of comprehensive treatment. The median survival time for 27 patients with available follow-ups was 4 months; 1-year survival was 29.6%. In Cox multivariate analysis, curative liver resection was an independent prognostic factor for prolonged survival (p = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Curative liver resection can prolong survival. Improvements in outcome will require the development of more effective systemic therapies.

Cowpox virus CrmA, Myxoma virus SERP2 and baculovirus P35 are not functionally interchangeable caspase inhibitors in poxvirus infections.

Cowpox virus (CPV) expresses the serpin (serine proteinase inhibitor) CrmA, an anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic protein required for production of red pocks on chicken chorioallantoic membranes (CAMs). In vitro, CrmA inhibits several caspases and granzyme B. Altering the critical P1-aspartate in the CrmA reactive centre loop to alanine resulted in a virus (CPV-CrmA-D303A) that resembled CPV deleted for CrmA (CPVDeltaCrmA : : lacZ); on CAMs it produced white, inflammatory pocks with activated caspase-3 and reduced virus yields, suggesting that CrmA activities are mediated via proteinase inhibition. CrmA in CPV was replaced with SERP2 from Myxoma virus (MYX) or baculovirus P35, which inhibit similar proteinases in vitro. SERP2 and P35 each blocked caspase-3-mediated apoptosis but were unable to control inflammation of CAMs. However, SERP2 and P35 restored virus yields, indicating that the decreased virus titres seen with CPVDeltaCrmA : : lacZ resulted from apoptosis rather than inflammation. To compare the activities of CrmA and SERP2 further, rabbits were infected with MYX recombinant viruses. Intradermal infection of rabbits with MYX was uniformly lethal, generating raised primary lesions and many secondary lesions. In contrast, deletion of SERP2 from MYX (MYXDeltaSERP2 : : lacZ) caused little mortality and produced flat primary lesions with few secondary lesions. Replacement of SERP2 with CrmA (MYXDeltaSERP2 : : CrmA) resulted in partial complementation with flat primary lesions, many secondary lesions and death in 70 % of the rabbits. Therefore, CrmA and SERP2 were not functionally interchangeable during infection of CAMs or rabbits, implying that these serpins have activities that are not evident from biochemical studies with human caspases.

[Media optimization for exopolysaccharide by Pholiota squarrosa (Pers. ex Fr.) Quel. AS 5.245 on submerged fermentation].

Our previous work has indicated that mycelium growth and exopolysaccharide accumulation in submerged fermentation by Pholiota squarrosa (Pers. ex Fr.) Quel. AS 5.245 are strongly affected by many internal and external factors, including medium constituents and fermentation conditions. In this study, we use an effective two-phase statistical approach to enhance exopolysaccharide production. In the first phase, Plackett-Burman design was undertaken to evaluate the effects of the twenty factors, i.e., glucose, fructose, maltose, yeast extract, tryptone, K2HPO4, KH2PO4, (NH4)2SO4, NaNO3, FeSO4, MgSO4, MnCl2, ZnCl2, FeCl3, CuSO4.5H2O, vitamin B1, initial pH, the temperature, the medium volume and the duration, to the fermentation. By regression analysis, yeast extract, tryptone, fructose, MgSO4, MnCl2, initial pH and temperature were found to be important for exopolysaccharide production, while glucose, maltose, NaNO3, ZnCl2, vitamin B1, the duration and the volume are important to the mycelium biomass. In the second phase of the optimization process, a response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the above critical internal factors, and to find out the optimal concentration levels and the relationships between these factors. Based on the results of the first phase, a five-level six-factor (yeast extract, fructose, MgSO4, maltose, ZnCl2 and initial pH) central composite rotatable design (CCRD) was employed. By solving the quadratic regression model equation using appropriate statistic methods, the optimal concentrations for obtaining 876.32 microg exopolysaccharide per milliliter of fermentation liquor were calculated as: 6.0g/L yeast extract, 11.5g/L fructose, 0.5g/L MgSO4, 9.6g/L maltose, 38.6mg/L ZnCl2 and with the initial pH 5.3. The experimental data under various conditions have validated the theoretical values.