Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2-associated changes in pharmacokinetics, locomotor function and peripheral glutamic acid and gamma-aminobutyric acid levels during acute alcohol intoxication in male mice.

The insufficiency of human aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) has been consistently associated with high blood acetaldehyde levels and impaired locomotor function during acute alcohol intoxication. The ALDH2-associated change in peripheral glutamic acid (Glu) and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels and its correlation with pharmacokinetics and psychomotor function remain unclear. In this study, ALDH2*2 mice were used to build an acute alcohol intoxication model after intraperitoneal administration. The blood ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations were analyzed to generate concentration-time curves at two doses of alcohol (2.0 and 4.0 g/kg). The dose of 4.0 g/kg was selected in accordance with the preliminary behavioral evaluation result to perform the following behavioral tests (e.g. the rotarod test, the open field test, and the Y-maze test), so as to assess locomotor activity, anxiety and cognitive ability. Plasma Glu and GABA levels were determined through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The results suggested that the ALDH2*2 mice had highly accumulated acetaldehyde levels, impaired locomotor activity and anxiety-like emotion but unimpaired cognitive function, compared to the wild type (WT) mice. The plasma Glu level and the ratio of Glu/GABA in the alcohol-treated WT and ALDH2*2 groups decreased from 2 to 5 h after intraperitoneal administration, whereas the GABA level did not change significantly. The blood alcohol concentration in the WT and ALDH2*2 mice was positively correlated with plasma Glu level, whereas the blood acetaldehyde level was found as the opposite. We speculate that the decline degree of Glu/GABA ratio could be associated with psychomotor retardation and needs to be further investigated.

Tibetan Y-STR trait in the eleven regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Y-Chromosomal short-tandem repeats (Y-STRs) could provide highly valuable information for forensic investigation and demographic studies. However, there is still no systematic Y-STR information on Tibetan as obtained from different regions of the broad Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In this study, an analysis was conducted on 585 male individuals, classed into 3 different dialect branches as Ü-Tsang, Amdo, and Khams and originating from 11 scattered regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The gene diversity values of the 41 Y-STRs in Tibetan ranged from 0.3636 to 0.9322. Additionally, a total of 563 distinct haplotypes were obtained with an overall haplotype diversity of 0.9999 and a discrimination capacity of 0.9624. As suggested by the inter-population diversity analysis, there were two main separated clades of Tibetan subgroups. The visualization of pairwise genetic distances between 11 Tibetan subgroups and 59 reference populations using cladogram revealed the distribution of various populations, which was basically consistent with the patterns of geographic origin and linguistic affinity.

Forensic characteristics and genetic structure of the Chinese Tibetan population revealed by 38 X-chromosomal InDel loci.

With the increasing importance of X-chromosome (Chr-X) genotyping in kinship identification, the exploitation of X chromosome genetic marker multiplex kits is increasing. The Human X-InDels amplification kit is a novel developed system which contained 38 X-chromosomal Insertion/deletion markers (X-InDels) and Amelogenin. Herein, we investigated the genetic diversity of the 38 X-InDels in the Tibetan ethnic minority (n = 792) from seven regions and evaluated the application potential of this novel panel. The rs16368 was the least variable locus, whereas the most polymorphic locus was the rs59605609 in Tibetan population. We confirmed three linkage groups with the haplotype diversities ranged from 0.5032 to 0.5976. The overall combined power of discrimination (PD) in males and females were 0.999999999582066 and 0.999999999999993, respectively. And the overall combined mean exclusion chance (MEC) values were not lower than 0.999125526990159. In addition, we explored the genetic relationships among the Tibetans in seven different regions via series of population comparison analyses, finding that the genetic relationship between the Ngari Tibetan and Chamdo Tibetan was the farthest, which was consistent with geographical distribution.

MoC/MAPbI3 hybrid composites for efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution.

Metal halide perovskites, such as iodine methylamine lead (MAPbI3), have received extensive attention in the field of photocatalytic decomposition of HI for hydrogen evolution, due to their excellent photoelectric properties. In this paper, a new MAPbI3-based composite, MoC/MAPbI3, was synthesized. The results show that 15 wt% MoC/MAPbI3 has the best hydrogen production performance (38.4 µmol h-1), which is approximately 24-times that of pure MAPbI3 (1.61 µmol h-1). With the extension of the catalytic time, the hydrogen production rate of MoC/MAPbI3 reached 165.3 µmol h-1 after 16 h due to the effective separation and transfer of charge carriers between MoC and MAPbI3, showing excellent hydrogen evolution rate performance under visible light. In addition, the cycling stability of MoC/MAPbI3 did not decrease in multiple 4 h cycle tests. This study used the non-precious metal promoter MoC to modify MAPbI3, and provides a new idea for the synthesis of efficient MAPbI3-based composite catalysts.