[Screening of reference genes based on real-time quantitative PCR analysis in Monochasma savatieri].

Monochasma savatieri belongs to Scrophulariaceae family. It is a facultative parasitic plant distributed in southern China that has been found in Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Fujian provinces. Previous studies on this plant have focused on its chemical constituents and pharmacological effects. The research foundation of molecular biology and functional genomics is still very in-depth, and there is no report on the reference genes. In this study, 6 reference gene(UBQ, GAPDH, AP-2, ACT, TUB and CYP) from transcriptome database, were selected and analyzed in M. savatieri.The experiment mainly involve two variables, soil moisture content and arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis(Rhizophagus irregularis). And the different combination of the factors result in a total of 6 treatments.Statistical tools, including GeNorm, NormFinder and Bestkeeper were utilized to assess the suitability of reference genes based on their stability rankings for different treatment. The result showed that the stability of 6 reference genes were significantly different. TUB and GAPDH were the most stable gene, while ACT was the most instable one. The results would provide reliable and optional available reference genes in gene expression analysis of M. savatieri, which has important application value.

Effect of high pressure homogenization treatment on the rheological properties of citrus peel fiber/corn oil emulsion.

BACKGROUND: Citrus fiber is a main component in the peel of citrus and contains natural dietary fiber. It is often used as a functional additive to improve the texture or nutritional property of food. It is also widely used to reduce the content of absorbable fat in sausages and other meat products, and to improve food stability as an emulsifier. In this research, the dynamic rheological properties (linear and non-linear) of citrus peel fiber/corn oil (CF/CO) emulsion system under high pressure homogenization (HPH) treatment was investigated. RESULT: Rheological results illustrated HPH treatment significantly increased the apparent viscosity of the emulsion, reduced the activation energy of the emulsion and distinctly improved the viscoelasticity of the emulsion. Meanwhile, HPH treatment increased the linear viscoelastic region of the sample, and the behavior of the emulsion converted from strain thinning (without HPH treatment) to weak strain overshoot (with HPH treatment). Lissajous curves indicated the viscosity of the sample increased first and then decreased with strain increasing and the third harmonic contributed much more to the first harmonic compared with the fifth harmonic. Chebyshev stress decomposition revealed that, as strain increased, the samples with HPH treatment showed internal-cycle strain hardening behavior first, then turned to internal-cycle softening behavior. CONCLUSION: HPH treatment can significantly improve the processing performance of CF/CO emulsion as well as the stability against large periodic oscillations in food processing. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Discovery and evaluation of novel nitrodihydroimidazooxazoles as promising anti-tuberculosis agents.

New analogues of antitubercular drug Delamanid were prepared, seeking drug candidates with enhanced aqueous solubility and high efficacy. The strategy involved replacement of phenoxy linker proximal to the 2-nitroimidazooxazole of Delamanid by piperidine fused 5 or 6-membered ring heterocycles (ring A). The new compounds were all more hydrophilic than Delamanid, and several class of analogues showed remarkable activities against M. bovis. And among these series, the tetrahydro-naphthyridine-linked nitroimidazoles displayed excellent antimycobacterial activity against both replicating (MABA) and nonreplicating (LORA) M. tb H37Rv and low cytotoxicity. Compared to Delamanid, these new compounds (6, 7, 45) demonstrated dramatically improved physicochemical properties and are suitable for further in vitro and in vivo evaluation.

[Soil Microorganism Characteristics and Soil Nutrients of Different Wetlands in Sanjinag Plain, Northeast China].

Four typical wetland types (i.e. wetlands with the following dominant plant species: Calamagrostis angustifolia + Salix brachypoda, Calamagrostis angustifolia, Carex lasiocarpa and Phragmites australis) of the Honghe reserve in Sanjiang Plain were studied to investigate the distribution of soil microorganism quantity and enzyme activity and their relationships with soil nutrients. The results showed that in 0-30 cm soil layer of these four wetlands: (1) Contents of soil total organic carbon, total nitrogen and total phosphorus decreased with the increase of soil depth, while available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium did not exhibit regularly changes. Moreover, there were significantly different for soil nutrient contents among different wetland types (P < 0.05). (2) The number of soil microorganism was bacteria > actinomycetes > fungi, furthermore, the number of three microbial colonies all decreased with the increase of soil depth. Total soil microbial number of C. angustifolia wetland was the highest and that of C. lasiocarpa wetland was the lowest. (3) Soil invertase and cellulase activities decreased with soil depth, while soil catalase activity showed no consistent changes. Three kinds of enzyme activities in C. angustifolia + S. brachypoda and C. angustifolia wetlands were significantly higher than those of C. lasiocarpa and P. australis wetlands (P < 0.05). (4) The correlation analysis showed that soil bacteria, fungi and cellulose activity had a significant correlation with indicators of soil nutrients. But there was no correlation between actinomyces, invertase and available potassium, as well as between catalase and available potassium, available phosphorus. Overall, soil microorganism and enzyme activities are important indicators for reflecting the status of soil nutrients.

Vitamin E ameliorates ox-LDL-induced foam cells formation through modulating the activities of oxidative stress-induced NF-κB pathway.

The role of antioxidant supplementation with vitamin E in the prevention of atherosclerosis has been a topic of considerable recent interest. The relevance of vitamin E for macrophage-derived foam cell formation, a hallmark of atherosclerosis, however, has not been unequivocally resolved. Here, we investigated the effect of oxidized LDL (ox-LDL) and vitamin E on lipid accumulation and total cholesterol content in U937 macrophages, reactive oxygen species generation and expression of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathway. The results showed that the mRNA expression and protein levels of P-selectin were evident in U937 macrophages treated with ox-LDL and vitamin E, which indicating that expression of P-selectin is important in macrophage-derived foam cell formation. Moreover, P-selectin changes in ox-LDL-induced foam cell formation can be mediated by vitamin E through activities of nuclear NF-κB activated by serine phosphorylation of NF-κB inhibitor α, suggesting that activation of NF-κB pathway by macrophages may occur. Taken together, these data suggested that vitamin E can prevent ox-LDL-induced foam cell macrophages formation through modulating the activities of oxidative stress-induced NF-κB pathway.

[Transoral carbon dioxide laser surgery for treatment of hypopharyngeal carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and curative effects of transoral CO2 laser in treatment of hypopharyngeal carcinoma. METHODS: The retrospective analysis included 24 cases of hypopharyngeal carcinoma from 1994 to 2005 in the Department of Head and Neck. All cases were treated with endoscopic laser surgery and adjuvant selective neck dissection or radiotherapy. The follow-up period was more than 3 years. Twenty-four patients (21 male, 3 female) were classified as follows: 14 cases were T1N0M0, 4 were T1N1M0, 1 was T1N2bM0, 3 were T2N0M0 and 2 were T2N2bM0. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed the overall 5-year survival rate was 74.9%, and the 5-year survival rate of T1 lesions and T2 lesions was 78.8% and 60.1%, respectively. The overall 5-year local control rate was 82.1% and 5-year larynx preservation rate was 87.0%. Six of 7 patients with local-regional recurrences underwent salvage surgery and radiotherapy. Finally 4 of them died of recurrence again and 2 were survival. The other one of 7 patients had distant metastasis, and died after radiochemotherapy. One patient died of non-neoplastic diseases. Two patients experienced minor complications with conventional ambulatory treatment without sequelae. All survival patients had laryngeal preservation except the one who received salvage surgery of the hypopharynx and larynx. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic CO2 laser surgery with adjuvant selective or modified radical neck dissection and radiotherapy is an alternative for the treatment of selected hypopharyngeal carcinoma, associated with satisfying curative effects and a high larynx preservation rate.

[Observation on therapeutic effect of warming needle therapy on chronic colitis].

OBJECTIVE: To search for a better method for increasing clinical therapeutic effect on chronic colitis. METHODS: One hundred and seventeen cases were randomly divided into a warming needle group (n = 46), an acupuncture group (n = 39) and a medication group (n = 32). The warming needle group and the acupuncture group were treated with warming needle moxibustion and acupuncture on Tianshu (ST 25), Zhongwan (CV 12) and Guanyuan (CV 4), etc. for 30 min, respectively; the medication group with oral administration of Salicylazosulfapyridine tablets and Azathiopurine. After they were treated for 3 courses, the therapeutic effects were observed. RESULTS: The total effective rate was 93.5% in the warming needle group, 76.9% in the acupuncture group and 75.0% in the medication group, the warming needle group being better than the acupuncture group and the medication group (both P < 0.05) and the acupuncture group being similar to the medication group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Warming needle moxibustion is a better therapy for chronic colitis with no side effects.

Effects of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from seal oils on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease associated with hyperlipidemia.

AIM: To investigate the efficacy and safety of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) from seal oils for patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) associated with hyperlipidemia. METHODS: One hundred and forty-four patients with NAFLD associated with hyperlipidemia were included in the 24-wk, randomized, controlled trial. The patients were randomized into two groups. Group A (n=72) received recommended diet and 2 g n-3 PUFA from seal oils, three times a day. Group B (n=72) received recommended diet and 2 g placebo, three times a day. Primary endpoints were fatty liver assessed by symptom scores, liver alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and serum lipid levels after 8, 12, 16, and 24 wk. Hepatic fat infiltration was detected by ultrasonography at weeks 12 and 24 after treatment. RESULTS: A total of 134 patients (66 in group A, 68 in group B) were included in the study except for 10 patients who were excluded from the study. After 24 wk of treatment, no change was observed in body weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), renal function and blood cells of these patients. Total symptom scores, ALT and triglyceride (TG) levels decreased more significantly in group A than in group B (P<0.05). As expected, there was a tendency toward improvement in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT), and total cholesterol (TCHO) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels (P<0.05) after administration in the two groups. However, no significant differences were found between the two groups. The values of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) were significantly improved in group A (P<0.05), but no significant change was found in group B at different time points and after a 24-wk treatment. After treatment, complete fatty liver regression was observed in 19.70% (13/66) of the patients, and an overall reduction was found in 53.03% (35/66) of the patients in group A. In contrast, in group B, only five patients (7.35%, 5/68) achieved complete fatty liver regression (P=0.04), whereas 24 patients (35.29%, 24/68) had a certain improvement in fatty liver (P=0.04). No serious adverse events occurred in all the patients who completed the treatment. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that n-3 PUFA from seal oils is safe and efficacious for patients with NAFLD associated with hyperlipidemia and can improve their total symptom scores, ALT, serum lipid levels and normalization of ultrasonographic evidence. Further study is needed to confirm these results.