Luteinizing hormone receptor splicing variants in bovine Leydig cells.

The luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) plays a key role in testosterone production through its interaction with the gonadotropins, LH and chorionic gonadotropin. We examined the LHR splicing pattern in bovine Leydig cells; LH-induced expression of eight cloned splicing variants was detected by real-time PCR. Luteinizing hormone applied to cultured Leydig cells resulted in expression of full-length LHR and the A and B isoforms, as well as secretion of testosterone, which first increased, then declined, and then increased further, with increased LH levels. The secretion of testosterone progressively increased with increasing LH, but the expression levels of LHR (FL, A, and B) did not increase correspondingly. We conclude that the LHR splicing pattern is complex in bovine Leydig cells, and that expression of full-length LHR and isoforms A and B changes when induced with LH.

UV light emitting transparent conducting tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanowires.

Multifunctional single crystalline tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) nanowires with tuned Sn doping levels are synthesized via a vapor transport method. The Sn concentration in the nanowires can reach 6.4 at.% at a synthesis temperature of 840 °C, significantly exceeding the Sn solubility in ITO bulks grown at comparable temperatures, which we attribute to the unique feature of the vapor-liquid-solid growth. As a promising transparent conducting oxide nanomaterial, layers of these ITO nanowires exhibit a sheet resistance as low as 6.4 Ω/[Symbol: see text] and measurements on individual nanowires give a resistivity of 2.4 × 10(-4) Ω cm with an electron density up to 2.6 × 10(20) cm(-3), while the optical transmittance in the visible regime can reach ∼ 80%. Under the ultraviolet excitation the ITO nanowire samples emit blue light, which can be ascribed to transitions related to defect levels. Furthermore, a room temperature ultraviolet light emission is observed in these ITO nanowires for the first time, and the exciton-related radiative process is identified by using temperature-dependent photoluminescence measurements.

Selenium in Kashin-Beck disease areas.

In this article, the duplication portion technique was used to determine the daily intakes of selenium and ten other elements in the 24-h total diets collected in the typical Kashin-Beck endemic areas, i.e., Shanxi Province and Inner Mongolia Autonomous of China. The contents of Ca, Mg, Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn, Al, Sr, Ba, and P in freeze-dried samples were determined by ICP-AES. Se was determined by differential pulse catalytic polarography. The average Se contents in total diets of Shanxi Kashin-Beck endemic and nonendemic areas were 0.009 and 0.021 micrograms/g (dry weight), respectively (P less than 0.001), corresponding to the daily intakes for Se of 4.6 and 10.5 micrograms. After the Se-supplemented fertilizer was applied (225 g of Na2SeO3/ha), the average Se content in total diets of Kashin-Beck disease area was increased to 0.0336 micrograms/g, which corresponded to the average daily intake for Se of 16.8 micrograms. In Inner Mongolia Kashin-Beck endemic and nonendemic areas, the average Se contents in total diets were 0.006 and 0.017 micrograms/g, respectively (p less than 0.001), corresponding to the average daily intakes for Se of 3 and 8.5 micrograms. The contents of other ten elements in total diets in endemic and nonendemic areas were reported and compared.