Colonic Microbiota Improves Fiber Digestion Ability and Enhances Absorption of Short-Chain Fatty Acids in Local Pigs of Hainan.

Compared to commercial breeds, Chinese local pig breeds have a greater ability to digest dietary fiber, which may be due to differences in intestinal microbiota. In this study, we fed Ding'an and DLY pigs high and low levels of dietary fiber, respectively, to investigate factors contributing to high dietary fiber adaption in Ding'an pigs. Twelve Ding'an pigs and DLY pigs were randomly divided into a 2 (diet) × 2 (breed) factorial experiment (n = 3). Compared with commercial pigs, Ding'an pigs have a stronger ability to digest dietary fiber. Prevotella was more prevalent in Ding'an pigs than in DLY pigs, which may be an important reason for the stronger ability of fiber degradation in Ding'an pigs. When the effects of feed and breed factors are considered, differences in abundance of 31 species and 14 species, respectively, may result in a greater ability of fiber degradation in Ding'an pigs. Among them, Prevotella. sp. CAG:520 may be a newly discovered bacterium related to fiber degradation, which positively correlated with many fiber-degrading bacteria (r > 0.7). We also found that the concentration of plant metabolites with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects was higher in the colonic chyme of Ding'an pigs after increasing the fiber content, which resulted in the downregulated expression of inflammatory factors in colonic mucosa. Spearman's correlation coefficient revealed a strong correlation between microbiota and the apparent digestibility of dietary fiber (r > 0.7). The mRNA expressions of SLC16A1, PYY, and GCG were significantly increased in the colonic mucosa of Ding'an pigs fed on high-fiber diets, which indicates that Ding'an pigs have an enhanced absorption of SCFAs. Our results suggested that an appropriate increase in dietary fiber content can reduce the inflammatory response and improve feed efficiency in Ding'an pigs, and differences in the intestinal microbial composition may be an important reason for the difference in the fiber degradation capacity between the two breeds of pigs.

Discovering Facet-Dependent Formation Kinetics of Key Intermediates in Electrochemical Ammonia Oxidation by a Electrochemiluminescence Active Probe.

Facile evaluation of formation kinetics of key intermediate is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of electrochemical ammonia oxidation reaction (AOR) mechanisms and the design of efficient electrocatalysts. Currently, elucidating the formation kinetics of key intermediate associated with rate-determining step is still challenging. Herein, 4-phtalamide-N-(4'-methylcoumarin) naphthalimide (CF) is developed as a molecular probe to detect N2H4 intermediate during AOR via electrochemiluminescence (ECL) and further investigated the formation kinetics of N2H4 on Pt catalysts with different crystal planes. CF probe can selectively react with N2H4 to release ECL substance luminol. Thus, N2H4 intermediate as a key intermediate can be sensitively and selectively detected by ECL during AOR. For the first time, Pt(100) facet is discovered to exhibit faster N2H4 formation kinetics than Pt(111) facet, which is further confirmed by Density functional theory calculation and the finite element simulation. The AOR mechanism under the framework of Gerischer and Mauerer is further validated by examining N2H4 formation kinetics during the dimerization process (NH2 coupling). The developed ECL active probe and the discovered facet-dependent formation kinetics of key intermediates provide a promising new tool and strategy for the understanding of electrochemical AOR mechanisms and the design of efficient electrocatalysts.

Study on the Characteristics of Coarse Feeding Tolerance of Ding'an Pigs: Phenotypic and Candidate Genes Identification.

Ding'an (DA) pig, a prominent local breed in Hainan Province, exhibits notable advantages in coarse feeding tolerance and high-quality meat. To explore the potential genetic mechanism of coarse feeding tolerance in DA pigs, 60-day-old full sibling pairs of DA and DLY (Duroc-Landrace-Yorkshire) pigs were subjected to fed normal (5%) and high (10%) crude fiber diets for 56 days, respectively. The findings showed that increasing the crude fiber level had no impact on the apparent digestibility of crude fiber, intramuscular fat, and marbling scores in DA pigs, whereas these factors were significantly reduced in DLY pigs (p < 0.05). Through differential expression analysis and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis (WGCNA) of the colonic mucosal transcriptome data, 65 and 482 candidate genes with coarse feeding tolerance in DA pigs were identified, respectively. Joint analysis screened four key candidate genes, including LDHB, MLC1, LSG1, and ESM1, potentially serving as key regulated genes for coarse feeding tolerance. Functional analysis revealed that the most significant pathway enriched in differential genes associated with coarse feeding tolerance in Ding'an pigs was the signaling receptor binding. The results hold substantial significance for advancing our understanding of the genetic mechanisms governing coarse feeding tolerance in Ding'an pigs.

Effect of virtual reality-based exercise and physical exercise on adolescents with overweight and obesity: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a complex and multifactorial disease that has affected many adolescents in recent decades. Clinical practice guidelines recommend exercise as the key treatment option for adolescents with overweight and obesity. However, the effects of virtual reality (VR) exercise on the physical and brain health of adolescents with overweight and obese remain unclear. This study aims to evaluate the effects of physical and VR exercises on physical and brain outcomes and explore the differences in benefits between them. Moreover, we will apply a multiomics analysis to investigate the mechanism underlying the effects of physical and VR exercises on adolescents with overweight and obesity. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This randomised controlled clinical trial will include 220 adolescents with overweight and obesity aged between 11 and 17 years. The participants will be randomised into five groups after screening. Participants in the exercise groups will perform an exercise programme by adding physical or VR table tennis or soccer classes to routine physical education classes in schools three times a week for 8 weeks. Participants in the control group will maintain their usual physical activity. The primary outcome will be the change in body fat mass measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis. The secondary outcomes will include changes in other physical health-related parameters, brain health-related parameters and multiomics variables. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital and registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry. Dissemination of the findings will include peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and media releases. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ChiCTR2300068786.

The concordance and discordance of diabetic kidney disease and retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A cross-sectional study of 26,809 patients from 5 primary hospitals in China.

Introduction: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) share similar pathophysiological mechanisms. However, signs of DKD may be present at diagnosis of diabetes without retinopathy. Risk factors for the development of DKD and DR may not be identical. Methods: This study aimed to evaluate the concordance and discordance between DKD and DR by investigating the distribution of DKD and DR in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus from 5 Chinese cities. A total of 26,809 patients were involved in this study. The clinical characteristics were compared among patients based on the presence of DKD and DR. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the independent risk factors of DKD and DR. Results: The prevalence of DKD and DR was 32.3% and 34.6%, respectively. Among eligible patients, 1,752 patients without DR had an increased urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR) or reduced estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and 1,483 patients with DR had no DKD. The positive predictive value of DR for DKD was 47.4% and negative predictive value was 67.1%. Elder age, male gender, a longer duration of disease, higher values of waist circumference and HbA1c were associated with both DR and DKD. A lower educational level was associated with DR. Higher BP and TG would predict increased prevalence of DKD. Conclusions: DKD and DR shared many risk factors, but a significant discordance was present in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. DKD was more strongly associated with blood pressure and triglycerides than DR.

Application of Absorbable Suture in Strabismus Correction and Nursing Management Advantage of Watson Care Theory in Perioperative Period.

Objectives: The article is aimed at investigating the suture effect of absorbable suture in strabismus correction and the advantage of Watson care theory. Methods: 148 children with strabismus were enrolled in this study and divided into two groups. The control group received routine nursing, and on this basis, the observation group was given Watson care theory nursing and eye muscle suture with absorbable sutures. The degree of cooperation (induction compliance checklist (ICC) score), negative emotion (modified Yale preoperative anxiety scale (m-YAPS) score), pain (face pain scale (FPS) score), quality of nursing management, parents' satisfaction, clinical efficacy, and adverse reactions were compared. Results: After nursing and surgical treatment, all children's strabismus symptoms were improved, and the improvement of strabismus and visual function in the observation group was more obvious. Watson care nursing can effectively improve the nursing management quality, parents' satisfaction, children's negative emotions, and treatment compliance. Conclusions: As a result, Watson care theory nursing is of great significance for improving the relationship between nurses and patients and building a harmonious hospital.

Development of Refractive Parameters in 3- to 6-Year-Old Children and Its Application in Myopia Prediction and Intervention Guidance.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate refractive development and prevalence of myopia in children aged 3-6 years in Hebei Province, China, and to explore the developmental law of refraction, so as to clinically guide the prediction and intervention of myopia. METHODS: In May 2019, a total of 6120 people were inspected in 68 kindergartens in 11 cities in Hebei Province. Child refractive refraction was checked under noncycloplegia using a handheld binocular vision screener (SW-800, SUOER, Tianjin, China). Axial length (AL) and corneal radius of curvature (CR) were measured using an ocular biometry (IOLMaster 500, Carl Zeiss, Germany). Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent (SE) ≤ -0.75 D. RESULTS: A total of 5506 children aged 3-6 years met the criteria and were included in the statistical analysis. The prevalence of myopia was 3.49% (1.93% at age 3, 2.90% at age 4, 3.78% at age 5, and 3.88% at age 6). Overall, the mean SE was +0.67 ± 1.05 D (+0.81 ± 1.00 D at age 3, +0.79 ± 1.05 D at age 4, +0.67 ± 1.08 D at age 5, and +0.13 ± 1.01 D at age 6); the mean CR was 7.76 ± 0.26 mm (7.78 ± 0.26 mm at age3, 7.75 ± 0.25 mm at age 4, 7.77 ± 0.26 mm at age 5, and 7.76 ± 0.25 mm at age 6); the mean AL was 22.31 ± 0.73 mm (21.98 ± 0.63 mm at age 3, 22.12 ± 0.69 mm at age 4, 22.34 ± 0.73 mm at age 5, and 22.49 ± 0.73 mm at age 6). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of myopia increases with age in children aged 3-6 years in Hebei, China. With the increase of age, CR is basically stable, and AL increases gradually. AL/CR, which is closely related to SE, can be used as an indicator to predict myopia and guide clinical work.

Application of vitamin A palmitate eye gel and nurse value of Watson's theory of caring in children with dry eye after strabismus surgery: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: After strabismus surgery, the local swelling of conjunctival wound will affect the uniform distribution of tears on the ocular surface, and the inflammatory reaction will affect the stability of tear film, which will easily lead to iatrogenic dry eye. This study aimed to investigate the effect of vitamin A palmitate (VAP) eye gel application in dry eye and the advantages of Watson's theory of caring. METHODS: Two hundred and forty children with dry eye after strabismus surgery treated in our hospital from September 2018 to September 2020 were selected as the study subjects, and were randomly divided into control group and observation group according to the allocation ratio of 1:1. Watson's theory of care nursing was applied in the observation group, and VAP eye gel was additionally dropped into the eye. Mouse conjunctival goblet cells (GCs) were used to detect the effect of VAP on the growth of GCs. Treatment compliance, improvement of dry eye symptoms [Schirmer I test (SIT), tear film break-up time (BUT), and fluorescent staining (FL) score], inflammatory factor levels in tears, clinical efficacy, and parents' satisfaction were compared. RESULTS: It was found that VAP eye gel could better promote the proliferation of GCs. After nursing and clinical treatment, the dry eye symptoms were improved in all included children, and improvements in the SIT, BUT, and FL scores were more obvious in the observation group. Watson's theory of care nursing could effectively improve the children's treatment compliance and parents' satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: As a result, the application of VAP eye gel and Watson's theory of care nursing could effectively reduce the occurrence of dry eye after strabismus surgery, and were of great importance for improving the relationship between nurses and patients and building a harmonious hospital. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2100049136.

Nitrogen-Doped Chiral CuO/CoO Nanofibers: An Enhanced Electrochemiluminescence Sensing Strategy for Detection of 3,4-Dihydroxy-Phenylalanine Enantiomers.

l-3,4-Dihydroxy-phenylalanine (l-DOPA) is the most effective drug for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, which plays a very important role in clinical and neurochemistry. However, how to achieve high-sensitivity recognition of l-DOPA still faces challenges. Here, a facile strategy is presented to construct nitrogen-doped chiral CuO/CoO nanofibers (N-CuO/CoO NFs) with nanozyme activity and electrochemiluminescence property, in which CuO/CoO NFs are used as the catalytic activity center and chiral cysteine (Cys) is used as the inducer of chiral recognition, for enantioselective catalysis and sensitive recognition of DOPA enantiomers. Notably, N doping not only enhances the enzyme-mimic activity of CuO/CoO NFs but also amplifies their electrochemiluminescence (ECL) signals in the presence of luminol. More importantly, in the presence of DOPA enantiomers, the d-cysteine (d-Cys)-modified N-CuO/CoO NFs exhibit different ECL performances; thus, d-Cys@N-CuO/CoO NFs could selectively distinguish and sensitively detect l-DOPA through ECL signals, and the detection limit is 0.29 nM for l-DOPA. In addition, it also showed good sensing performance for the determination of l-DOPA in fetal bovine serum. This is the first report on the detection of DOPA enantiomers based on an enhanced ECL strategy, providing a robust pathway for chiral discrimination and detection of chiral molecules.

A new aurone glycoside with antifungal activity from marine-derived fungus Penicillium sp. FJ-1.

Endophytic fungi which reside in the tissue of mangrove plants seem to play an important role in the discovery of new biologically active substances. During the course of screening for the antimicrobial metabolites from the endophytic fugus Penicillium sp. FJ-1 of mangrove plant Avicennia marina, a new aurone glycoside (1) was isolated by repeated column chromatography on silica gel and recrystallization methods. The structure of 1 was elucidated as (Z)-7,4'-dimethoxy-6-hydroxy-aurone-4-O-ß-glucopyranoside, on the basis of spectroscopic analysis. Compound 1 exhibited antifungal activity against Candida sp., with the potency comparable to amphotericin B and much better than fluconazole. Compound 1 can also inhibit extracellular phospholipase secretion in a concentration-dependent manner.

USP3 inhibits type I interferon signaling by deubiquitinating RIG-I-like receptors.

Lysine 63 (K63)-linked ubiquitination of RIG-I plays a critical role in the activation of type I interferon pathway, yet the molecular mechanism responsible for its deubiquitination is still poorly understood. Here we report that the deubiquitination enzyme ubiquitin-specific protease 3 (USP3) negatively regulates the activation of type I interferon signaling by targeting RIG-I. Knockdown of USP3 specifically enhanced K63-linked ubiquitination of RIG-I, upregulated the phosphorylation of IRF3 and augmented the production of type I interferon cytokines and antiviral immunity. We further show that there is no interaction between USP3 and RIG-I-like receptors (RLRs) in unstimulated or uninfected cells, but upon viral infection or ligand stimulation, USP3 binds to the caspase activation recruitment domain of RLRs and then cleaves polyubiquitin chains through cooperation of its zinc-finger Ub-binding domain and USP catalytic domains. Mutation analysis reveals that binding of USP3 to polyubiquitin chains on RIG-I is a prerequisite step for its cleavage of polyubiquitin chains. Our findings identify a previously unrecognized role of USP3 in RIG-I activation and provide insights into the mechanisms by which USP3 inhibits RIG-I signaling and antiviral immunity.

Vaccination of mice with an antigenic serine protease-like protein elicits a protective immune response against Trichinella spiralis infection.

Trichinellosis has major economic impacts on animal husbandry and food safety, and the control and elimination of trichinellosis is a major objective of veterinary medicine. A gene encoding serine protease of Trichinella spiralis (Ts-Adsp) was identified by immunoscreening an adult T. spiralis cDNA library. In this study, the recombinant Ts-Adsp protein (rTs-Adsp) was cloned and expressed in a prokaryotic expression system and purified by Ni-affinity chromatography. To determine whether the purified rTs-Adsp is a potential vaccine candidate for the control of T. spiralis infection, we immunized BALB/c mice with this protein in combination with an alum adjuvant and subsequently challenged with T. spiralis larvae. The results showed that mice vaccinated with rTs-Adsp exhibited an average reduction in the muscle larvae burden of 46.5% relative to the control group. Immunization with the rTs-Adsp antigen induced both humoral and cellular immune responses, which manifested as elevated specific anti-rTs-Adsp IgG and IgE antibodies and a mixed Th1-Th2 response, as determined by Th1 (IFN-γ and IL-2) and Th2 (IL-4, IL-10, and IL-13) cytokine profiling, with the Th2 predominant. Thus, purified rTs-Adsp is able to limit the invasion of T. spiralis , and this protein could be an effective vaccine candidate for trichinellosis.

Differential DNA methylation in discrete developmental stages of the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis.

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation plays an essential role in regulating gene expression under a variety of conditions and it has therefore been hypothesized to underlie the transitions between life cycle stages in parasitic nematodes. So far, however, 5'-cytosine methylation has not been detected during any developmental stage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Given the new availability of high-resolution methylation detection methods, an investigation of life cycle methylation in a parasitic nematode can now be carried out. RESULTS: Here, using MethylC-seq, we present the first study to confirm the existence of DNA methylation in the parasitic nematode Trichinella spiralis, and we characterize the methylomes of the three life-cycle stages of this food-borne infectious human pathogen. We observe a drastic increase in DNA methylation during the transition from the new born to mature stage, and we further identify parasitism-related genes that show changes in DNA methylation status between life cycle stages. CONCLUSIONS: Our data contribute to the understanding of the developmental changes that occur in an important human parasite, and raises the possibility that targeting DNA methylation processes may be a useful strategy in developing therapeutics to impede infection. In addition, our conclusion that DNA methylation is a mechanism for life cycle transition in T. spiralis prompts the question of whether this may also be the case in any other metazoans. Finally, our work constitutes the first report, to our knowledge, of DNA methylation in a nematode, prompting a re-evaluation of phyla in which this epigenetic mark was thought to be absent.

Global gene expression analysis of the zoonotic parasite Trichinella spiralis revealed novel genes in host parasite interaction.

BACKGROUND: Trichinellosis is a typical food-borne zoonotic disease which is epidemic worldwide and the nematode Trichinella spiralis is the main pathogen. The life cycle of T. spiralis contains three developmental stages, i.e. adult worms, new borne larva (new borne L1 larva) and muscular larva (infective L1 larva). Stage-specific gene expression in the parasites has been investigated with various immunological and cDNA cloning approaches, whereas the genome-wide transcriptome and expression features of the parasite have been largely unknown. The availability of the genome sequence information of T. spiralis has made it possible to deeply dissect parasite biology in association with global gene expression and pathogenesis. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we analyzed the global gene expression patterns in the three developmental stages of T. spiralis using digital gene expression (DGE) analysis. Almost 15 million sequence tags were generated with the Illumina RNA-seq technology, producing expression data for more than 9,000 genes, covering 65% of the genome. The transcriptome analysis revealed thousands of differentially expressed genes within the genome, and importantly, a panel of genes encoding functional proteins associated with parasite invasion and immuno-modulation were identified. More than 45% of the genes were found to be transcribed from both strands, indicating the importance of RNA-mediated gene regulation in the development of the parasite. Further, based on gene ontological analysis, over 3000 genes were functionally categorized and biological pathways in the three life cycle stage were elucidated. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: The global transcriptome of T. spiralis in three developmental stages has been profiled, and most gene activity in the genome was found to be developmentally regulated. Many metabolic and biological pathways have been revealed. The findings of the differential expression of several protein families facilitate understanding of the molecular mechanisms of parasite biology and the pathological aspects of trichinellosis.

Inhibition of mammalian muscle differentiation by excretory secretory products of muscle larvae of Trichinella spiralis in vitro.

The excretory-secretory products (ESP) released by muscle stage of Trichinella spiralis have been suggested to be involved in nurse cell formation. However, the molecular mechanisms by which ESP modulate nurse cell formation remain unclear. In the present study, the ability of ESP of muscle larvae of T. spiralis (ML-ESP) to influence the proliferation and differentiation of murine myoblasts and the mechanisms were evaluated in vitro using C2C12 myoblast cell line, which were incubated for various times under grow or differentiation culture medium containing various concentrations of ML-ESP. The results indicated that ML-ESP promoted myoblast proliferation in a dose-dependent manner and increased the expression of the cell-cycle regulator cyclin D1 as well as that of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Conversely, ML-ESP inhibited the differentiation of these cells, which was evidenced by a reduction in the levels of MHC and MRFs expression (MyoD and myogenin) as well as that of p21. In addition, ML-ESP also inhibited the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK in differentiating C2C12 myoblast. Taken together, these results imply that certain critical mediators contained in ML-ESP inhibit myogenesis through enhancing skeletal myoblasts proliferation and down-regulating the expression of MRFs as well as involving p38 MAPK signalling pathway, which provides insight into the mechanisms utilised by T. spiralis to interfere normal wound repair in infected muscle cells and affect nurse cell formation.

Regulation of cytokine expression in murine macrophages stimulated by excretory/secretory products from Trichinella spiralis in vitro.

Trichinella spiralis is a zoonotic nematode and food borne parasite and infection with T. spiralis leads to suppression of the host immune response and other immunopathologies. The excretory/secretory (ES) products of T. spiralis play important roles in the process of immunomodulation. However, the mechanisms and related molecules are unknown. Macrophages, a target for immunomodulation by the helminth parasite, play a critical role in initiating and modulating the host immune response to parasite infection. In this study, we examined the effect of ES products from different stages of T. spiralis on modulating J774A.1 macrophage activities. ES products from different stages of T. spiralis reduced the capacity of macrophages to express pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin-1ß , interleukin-6 , and interleukin-12) in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. However, only ES products from 3-day-old adult worms and 5-day-old adult worms/new-born larvae significantly inhibited inducible nitric oxide synthase gene expression in LPS-induced macrophages. In addition, ES products alone boosted the expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-10 and transforming growth factor-ß and effector molecule arginase 1 in J774A.1 macrophages. Signal transduction studies showed that ES products significantly inhibited nuclear factor-κB translocation into the nucleus and the phosphorylation of both extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase 1/2 and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in LPS-stimulated J774A.1 macrophages. These results suggest that ES products regulate host immune response at the macrophage level through inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines production and induction of macrophage toward the alternative phenotype, which maybe important for worm survival and host health.

Transcriptome of small regulatory RNAs in the development of the zoonotic parasite Trichinella spiralis.

BACKGROUND: Trichinella spiralis is a parasite with unique features. It is a multicellular organism but with an intracellular parasitization and development stage. T. spiralis is the helminthic pathogen that causes zoonotic trichinellosis and afflicts more than 10 million people worldwide, whereas the parasite's biology, especially the developmental regulation is largely unknown. In other organisms, small non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNA) and small interfering RNAs (siRNA) execute post-transcriptional regulation by translational repression or mRNA degradation, and a large number of miRNAs have been identified in diverse species. In T. spiralis, the profile of small non-coding RNAs and their function remains poorly understood. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here, the transcriptional profiles of miRNA and siRNA in three developmental stages of T. spiralis in the rat host were investigated, and compared by high-throughput cDNA sequencing technique ("RNA-seq"). 5,443,641 unique sequence tags were obtained. Of these, 21 represented conserved miRNAs related to 13 previously identified metazoan miRNA families and 213 were novel miRNAs so far unique to T. spiralis. Some of these miRNAs exhibited stage-specific expression. Expression of miRNAs was confirmed in three stages of the life cycle by qRT-PCR and northern blot analysis. In addition, endogenous siRNAs (endo-siRNAs) were found mainly derived from natural antisense transcripts (NAT) and transposable elements (TE) in the parasite. CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE: We provide evidence for the presence of miRNAs and endo-siRNAs in T. spiralis. The miRNAs accounted for the major proportion of the small regulatory RNA population of T. spiralis, while fewer endogenous siRNAs were found. The finding of stage-specific expression patterns of the miRNAs in different developmental stages of T. spiralis suggests that miRNAs may play important roles in parasite development. Our data provide a basis for further understanding of the molecular regulation and functional evolution of miRNAs in parasitic nematodes.

Toll-like receptor activation by helminths or helminth products to alleviate inflammatory bowel disease.

Helminth infection may modulate the expression of Toll like receptors (TLR) in dendritic cells (DCs) and modify the responsiveness of DCs to TLR ligands. This may regulate aberrant intestinal inflammation in humans with helminthes and may thus help alleviate inflammation associated with human inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Epidemiological and experimental data provide further evidence that reducing helminth infections increases the incidence rate of such autoimmune diseases. Fine control of inflammation in the TLR pathway is highly desirable for effective host defense. Thus, the use of antagonists of TLR-signaling and agonists of their negative regulators from helminths or helminth products should be considered for the treatment of IBD.

Discovery, evaluation and distribution of haplotypes of the wheat Ppd-D1 gene.

Ppd-D1 is one of the most potent genes affecting the photoperiod response of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Only two alleles, insensitive Ppd-D1a and sensitive Ppd-D1b, were known previously, and these did not adequately explain the broad adaptation of wheat to photoperiod variation. In this study, five diagnostic molecular markers were employed to identify Ppd-D1 haplotypes in 492 wheat varieties from diverse geographic locations and 55 accessions of Aegilops tauschii, the D genome donor species of wheat. Six Ppd-D1 haplotypes, designated I-VI, were identified. Types II, V and VI were considered to be more ancient and types I, III and IV were considered to be derived from type II. The transcript abundances of the Ppd-D1 haplotypes showed continuous variation, being highest for haplotype I, lowest for haplotype III, and correlating negatively with varietal differences in heading time. These haplotypes also significantly affected other agronomic traits. The distribution frequency of Ppd-D1 haplotypes showed partial correlations with both latitudes and altitudes of wheat cultivation regions. The evolution, expression and distribution of Ppd-D1 haplotypes were consistent evidentially with each other. What was regarded as a pair of alleles in the past can now be considered a series of alleles leading to continuous variation.

Validation of a sensitive gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method for the simultaneous determination of beta-elemene and beta-elemenal in human plasma.

A sensitive gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric assay was described for determination of beta-elemene and beta-elemenal in human plasma, which has been successfully applied in clinical trial. After liquid-liquid extraction and gas chromatographic separation, the analytes were identified and quantitated. Calibration curves were linear in range from 31.25 to 8000 ng mL(-1) and the limit of quantification for both was 31.25 ng mL(-1). Intra- and inter-day precision at three concentrations were 2.3-8.3% with accuracy of -8.5 to 6.1% for elemene and 3.0-9.9% with accuracy of -2.3 to 5.9% for elemenal. The method was validated to be suitable for further pharmacokinetic study.