A new species and three records of Chloroperlidae (Plecoptera) from China.

A new species of the genus Suwallia Ricker, 1943, S. rostrata sp. nov., from Xizang of southwestern China is described, illustrated and compared with similar species. Alloperla kurentzovi Zhiltzova & Zapekina-Dulkeit, 1977, A. kurilensis Zhiltzova, 1978, A. teleckojensis mal, 1939 are reported for the first time from China. The diagnostic features of these species are illustrated with color images.

Molecular docking, 3D-QASR and molecular dynamics simulations of benzimidazole Pin1 inhibitors.

Pin1 (protein interacting with never-in-mitosis akinase-1) is a member of the family of peptidylprolyl cis-trans isomerases (PPIases) that specifically recognize and isomerize substrates containing phosphorylated Ser/Thr-Pro sequences. Pin1 is involved in many cellular processes and plays a key role in the cell cycle, transcriptional regulation, cell metabolism, proliferation and differentiation, and its abnormalities lead to degenerative and neoplastic diseases. Pin1 is highly expressed in human cancers and promotes the development of tumors by activating multiple oncogenes and inactivating multiple tumor suppressor genes, making it an attractive target for cancer therapy. In this study, we investigated the binding mechanism and conformational relationship between benzimidazole Pin1 inhibitors and Pin1 proteins by molecular docking, three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR) modeling, binding free energy calculations and decomposition, and molecular dynamics simulations. Molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations disclosed the most likely binding pose of benzimidazoles with the Pin1 protein. The results of 3D-QSAR modeling indicated that electrostatic fields, hydrophobic fields and hydrogen bonding play important roles in the binding process of inhibitors to proteins. The binding free energy calculations and energy decomposition indicated that Lys63, Arg69, Cys113, Leu122, Met130, and Ser154 may be key residues in the binding of benzimidazole-based inhibitors to the Pin1 protein. This study provides an important theoretical basis for the design and optimization of benzimidazole compounds.

New and little-known stonefly species of the Rhopalopsolevietnamica 'western assemblage' group (Plecoptera, Leuctridae) from China.

We examined Chinese stonefly specimens of the Rhopalopsolevietnamica 'western assemblage' group. A new species from Hainan Province, R.bawanglinga Li, Li & Yang, sp. nov. is described and illustrated from male and female adults, and it is compared to closely related taxa. The hitherto unknown female of R.hainana Li & Yang, 2010 is described. Morphological evidence is presented for the identity of R.dentiloba Wu, 1973, on the basis of topotypes from Yunnan Province, southwestern China.

Study of Dietary Emodin on Immune Defense in Megalobrama amblycephala against Aeromonas hydrophila.

This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of emodin on the total bacterial count and immune response in various tissues of Wuchang bream infected with A. hydrophila. The experimental diets were made by supplementing emodin at 0, 30, 100, and 150 mg kg-1 to basal (control) diet, respectively, and fed to fish with an initial weight of 50.4 ± 2.35 g. All fish were divided into five experimental groups: uninfected fish fed with basal control diet (negative control, NC), infected fish fed with the diet supplemented with 0 (positive control group, PC), 30 (30), 100 (100), and 150 mg/kg (150) of emodin. The fish were reared for 14 days and sampled at different time points. The results showed that the total bacterial count in the kidney, blood, and liver tissues of Wuchang bream infected with A. hydrophila was significantly affected by the supplementation and feeding time of emodin. At the beginning of the experiment, the difference in total bacterial count among the groups was not significant. On day 1, the total bacterial count in all groups was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that in the negative control group. On day 4, the total bacterial count in all the emodin groups was significantly reduced, and the best bactericidal effect was observed in the 100 mg kg-1 group. In addition, emodin had a significant effect on the immune response of Wuchang bream after infection with A. hydrophila (p < 0.05). Compared with the other groups, the respiratory burst activity, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1 (IL-1) content, and white blood cell count (WBC) in the 100 and 150 mg kg-1 groups could be restored to normal levels in the shortest time (p < 0.05). Furthermore, this study also measured the complement alternative pathway activity (ACH50), plasma superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content of the fish. The results showed that supplying 100 mg kg-1 emodin to the diet could significantly (p < 0.05) increase the ACH50 activity of the fish. Compared with the positive control (PC) group, the addition of emodin to the diet can inhibit the decrease in SOD activity and the increase in MDA content in the plasma of infected Wuchang bream. In conclusion, supplying 100 mg kg-1 emodin to the diet can enhance the ability of Wuchang bream to resist A. hydrophila infection by reducing the total bacterial count in tissues, increasing the activity of related immune enzymes, and promoting the secretion of cytokines. This provides a theoretical basis for production practice.

Two new species of the genus Sweltsa (Plecoptera: Chloroperlidae) from China.

Two species of the genus Sweltsa Ricker, 1943 from China are described and figured as new to science. The morphological distinction between the new species and their similar relatives is discussed.

Additional records and poorly known species of Kamimuria Klaplek, 1907 (Plecoptera, Perlidae) from southern China.

Two poorly known species of Kamimuria Klaplek, 1907 originally known from southern China, K. melli Wu, 1935 and K. taoi Wu, 1936, are rediscovered and amended with supplementary descriptions of the aedeagi. Kamimuria atra Sivec & Stark, 2008 is recorded for the first time from China. Kamimuria liui (Wu, 1940) is newly recorded from southern China, amended with descriptions of the aedeagus and noted morphological variability, and compared to related congeners. Digital micrographs of the adult male, including the fully extruded aedeagi, are presented for the first time for the above four species.

Mesoporous Polydopamine-Based Nanovehicles as a Versatile Drug Loading Platform to Enable Tumor-Sufficient Synergistic Therapy.

The combination of photothermal therapy and chemotherapy are developing as a promising clinical strategy but it urgently needs the high exploration of intelligent multifunctional drug delivery nanovectors. In this paper, we used a versatile method to construct mesoporous polydopamine nanovehicles (MPDA) with the dendritic mesopores loaded with a clinical chemotherapeutic drug, Doxorubicin (MPDA@DOX). The monodisperse nanoagents are spherical with a size of ∼160 nm and pore size of approximately 10 nm. MPDA could efficiently delivery DOX with π-π stacking interaction and acts as the potent photothermal agents. Importantly, MPDA@DOX are preferentially internalized by cancerous cells, then bursting drug release and local hyperthermia generation were observed in conditions representative of the cytoplasm in tumor cells that highly synergistic cell killing effect were found under 808 nm laser irradiation. The fluorescent imaging results of human breast tumor bearing murine model evidenced that MPDA delivery platform have excellent tumor precise targeting effect and in vivo tumor ablation experiment further revealed that MPDA@DOX showed markedly eradicated tumor growth capability under laser exposure. Therefore, this work provided a fascinating strategy based on biocompatible MPDA based drug delivery system for malignant tumors eradication via synergistic therapy.

Baseline Sensitivity and Potential Resistance Mechanisms for Fusarium pseudograminearum to Fludioxonil.

Fusarium crown rot (FCR), which is caused by Fusarium pseudograminearum, is one of the most important diseases affecting wheat production in the Huanghuai wheat-growing region of China. Although the phenylpyrrole fungicide fludioxonil is known to have a broad-spectrum activity against a wide range of plant pathogens, including F. pseudograminearum, it has not yet been registered for the control of FCR in China, and further research is needed to assess the biological characteristics and molecular mechanisms associated with fludioxonil resistance, and especially the potential for highly resistant isolates to emerge. The current study demonstrated that the baseline fludioxonil sensitivity of 61 F. pseudograminearum isolates collected from the Henan province of China during the summers of 2019 to 2021 conformed to a unimodal distribution with a mean effective concentration for 50% inhibition (EC50) value of 0.021 ± 0.003 µg/ml, which indicated that none of the isolates exhibited natural resistance to fludioxonil. Nevertheless, four fludioxonil-resistant mutants were attained after repeated exposure to fludioxonil under laboratory conditions. All resistant mutants exhibited significantly lower growth rates on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and lower levels of sporulation and pathogenicity in wheat seedlings. In addition, the resistant mutants also exhibited less growth on PDA amended with either 0.5 M mannitol, 0.5 M glucose, 0.5 M MgCl2, or 0.5 M NaCl, which indicated that they had greater sensitivity to osmotic stress. Molecular analysis of the proposed fludioxonil target protein FpOs1 indicated that the predicted sequences of the resistant mutants contained none of the characteristic amino acid changes previously associated with fludioxonil resistance in other species. Further investigation via quantitative real-time PCR analysis revealed that expression of the FpOs1 gene was significantly altered in the resistant mutants in both the absence and presence of fludioxonil. Meanwhile, plate assays found evidence of cross-resistance between fludioxonil and cyprodinil, as well as with the triazole fungicides tebuconazole and difenoconazole, but not with other commonly used fungicides including prochloraz, fluazinam, and carbendazim. Taken together, these results provide new insights into the mechanism and biological characteristics associated with fludioxonil resistance in F. pseudograminearum and indicate that fludioxonil could provide effective and sustained control of FCR during wheat production.

Investigation of the pectin grafting with gallic acid and propyl gallate and their antioxidant activities, antibacterial activities and fresh keeping performance.

In this paper, a method for the enzymatic modification of pectin, in which gallic acid (GA) and propyl gallate (PG) were grafted onto pectin molecules in an aqueous/organic two-phase system catalyzed by lipase, was proposed. The potential reaction mechanism was explored through UV-Vis, FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopic methods and density functional theory. Results suggested that the lipase played a dual role during the modification by catalyzing the hydrolysis of methyl ester bonds of pectin in the aqueous phase and the esterification between the 4-OH of GA and PG and the -COOH of pectin in the organic phase. Moreover, the effects of GA and PG on the antioxidant and the antibacterial activities of pectin were evaluated, and results showed that the antioxidant and the antibacterial activities of modified pectin were better than those of native pectin. The effect of modified pectin on the quality of fresh bass (Lateolabrax maculatus) was further studied. Results suggested that, compared to control group, the total viable count, histamine level, malondialdehyde content and acid value of bass fillets treated with modified pectin were significantly reduced, whereas the sensory score was significantly increased.

Development of a convenient detection method for Trichomonas vaginalis based on loop-mediated isothermal amplification targeting adhesion protein 65.

BACKGROUND: Trichomoniasis resulting from Trichomonas vaginalis (T. vaginalis) has been considered as a commonly seen disease with the transmission way of sex. At present, the detection methods of T. vaginalis mainly include wet mount microscopy, culture, PCR, immunofluorescence and ELISA. However, all of these detection methods exist shortcomings. METHODS: In this study, a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay that targeted the species-specific sequence of adhesion protein 65 (AP65) gene had been conducted to detect T. vaginalis. The optimum reaction system and conditions were optimized in this rapid detection method. RESULTS: The results of sensitivity analysis showed that the LAMP assay targeting the AP65 gene was 1000 times more sensitive than the nested PCR targeting the actin gene commonly used for detection of T. vaginalis, and the detecting limitation of the former was 10 trichomonad. Moreover, the amplification of the target gene AP65 by LAMP assay exhibited high specificity and the product was exclusively from T. vaginalis. The detection technique of LAMP did not exhibit cross-reactivity with the common pathogens of Trichinella spiralis, Toxoplasma gondii, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus. CONCLUSIONS: According to the present study, the LAMP assay with the target of AP65 gene, was suitable for the early diagnosis of T. vaginalis infections. Consequently, the LAMP assay was proposed by the current study as a point-of-care examination and an alternative molecular tool which exhibited the potential value in the treatment, control and prevention of trichomoniasis transmission and relevant complication.

Morphological transformation of gold nanoparticles on graphene oxide: effects of capping ligands and surface interactions.

This article presents the influence of capping ligand and surface interaction types on the coarsening or reshaping behavior of surface-immobilized gold nanoparticles with different core size and shape. The morphological transformation of gold nanoparticles and nanorods on graphene oxide upon heating at temperatures ranging from 50 to 200 °C was investigated. The aggregation and coarsening behaviors of spherical nanoparticles on graphene oxide were slightly affected by the core size of nanoparticles (~ 1, 3, and 10 nm). The comparison of two different surface ligands revealed that glutathione ligands provide much better protection than cetyltrimethylammonium bromide ligands against the morphological transformation of nanoparticles. In addition, the evaluation of surface binding interactions indicated that the attachment of nanoparticles and nanorods onto graphene oxide with additional thiol functional groups could improve the immobilization of particles and therefore decelerate coarsening and reshaping of nanoparticle and nanorods.

A checklist of parasitic nematodes from marine fishes of China.

A checklist of the parasitic nematodes of Chinese marine fishes is presented. This fauna comprises 90 species, representing 31 genera, 13 families, nine superfamilies, three orders and two subclasses. Additional details for each species include the hosts, localities and references which represent the source of these data.

[Research on different processings of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi].

OBJECTIVE: Comparing the different processings of S. baicalensis Georgi with fresh herb. METHODS: Watering, cooking and steaming method were adopted and the contents of flavonoids was determined by HPLC. RESULTS: Cooking and steaming method could not only intenerate the slices, but also destroy the activity of enzyme. So different means could be choosen according to practice. CONCLUSION: Among them, cooking method with 1 time volume of water, heating 10 min, drying at 80 degrees C and steaming method taking 20 min, drying at 80 degrees C is proper.