Colloidal gold and fluorescent immunochromatographic test strips for canine parvovirus detection.

Canine parvovirus (CPV) is an acute and highly infectious virus causing disease in puppies and, thus, affecting the global dog industry. The current CPV detection methods are limited by their sensitivity and specificity. Hence, the current study sought to develop a rapid, sensitive, simple, and accurate immunochromatographic (ICS) test to detect and control the spread and prevalence of CPV infection. More specifically, 6A8, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) with high specificity and sensitivity, was obtained by preliminary screening. The 6A8 antibody was labelled with colloidal gold particles. Subsequently, 6A8 and goat anti-mouse antibodies were coated onto a nitrocellulose membrane (NC) as the test and control lines, respectively. Furthermore, 6A8 and rabbit IgG antibodies were labelled with fluorescent microspheres and evenly sprayed onto a glass fibre membrane. Both strips could be prepared in 15 min with no noticeable cross-reactivity with other common canine intestinal pathogens. The strips were simultaneously used to detect CPV in 60 clinical samples using real-time quantitative PCR, hemagglutination, and hemagglutination inhibition assays. The colloidal gold (fluorescent) ICS test strip was stable for 6 (7) and 4 (5) months at 4 °C and room temperature (18-25 °C). Both test strips were easy to prepare and rapidly detected CPV with high sensitivity and specificity. Moreover, the results were easily interpretable. This study establishes a simple method for two CPV diseases, colloidal gold and fluorescent immunochromatographic (ICS) test strips. KEY POINTS: • CPV test strips do not exhibit cross-reactivity with other canine intestinal pathogens. • The strips are stable for months at 4 °C and at room temperature (18-25 °C). • These strips are a promising approach for the timely diagnosis and treatment of CPV.

Specific Effects of Characteristics of Enriched Environment on Innovative Problem Solving by Animals.

Numerous studies have revealed that an enriched environment can enhance the survival-related behaviors and brain functions of animals. However, the effects and specific roles of the enrichment characteristics on animals' innovative capability, a cognitive ability crucial for survival in nature, are still not well known. In this study, we assigned mice to environment-manipulation groups (n = 15 each) to investigate the specific effects of environmental novelty (novel vs. familiar) and environmental complexity (complex vs. normal) on innovative problem solving and its possible neural mechanisms. Results showed that mice in only the novel-environment group performed better at innovative-problem-solving tasks and showed greater numbers of novel explorations and dopaminergic projections from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens in the brain. These findings indicate that an enriched environment has the potential to promote the innovative capability of mice by enhancing their novel exploratory motivation, which depends on the novelty of the environment but not its complexity.

Application and prospect of stable isotope technology in tracing geographical origin of Chinese herbal medicines / 中国中药杂志

As a unique medical resource in China, Chinese herbal medicine plays a key role in the prevention and treatment of human diseases. With the gradual expansion of applications, the quality of Chinese herbal medicine has become the focus of attention. The quality of Chinese herbal medicines depends largely on their source authenticity. Tracing the origin of Chinese herbal medicines plays an important role in ensuring their quality and efficacy and reducing the mixing and adulteration of Chinese herbal medicines from different regions. Stable isotope technology, as a key technology for origin tracing of agricultural products and food, has been used in the research of Chinese herbal medicines from multiple sources and origins in recent years. This new technological means contributes to standardizing the origin of Chinese herbal medicines and controlling their quality from the source. Apart from introducing the basic principles of stable isotope technology and the characteristics of common stable isotopes, this study reviewed the application status of light and heavy stable isotopes in the origin tracing of Chinese herbal medicines and their correlation with ecological factors, and forecasted the application prospect of this technology in the authentication of Chinese herbal medicines, aiming to provide reference for the geographical origin tracing of Chinese herbal medicines and promote the sustainable development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Content and distribution of inorganic elements in Laminaria japonica based on ICP-MS and Micro-XRF / 中国中药杂志

In order to evaluate the composition and distribution characteristics of inorganic elements in Laminaria japonica, this study employed inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(ICP-MS) to detect the inorganic elements and used high performance liquid chromatography tandem ICP-MS(HPLC-ICP-MS) to determine the content of different arsenic species in L. japonica from diffe-rent origins. Micro X-ray fluorescence(Micro-XRF) was used to determine micro-area distribution of inorganic elements in L. japonica. The results showed that the average content of Mn, Fe, Sr, and Al was high, and that of As and Cr exceeded the limits of the national food safety standard. According to the results of HPLC-ICP-MS, arsenobetaine(AsB) was the main species of As contained in L. japonica. The more toxic inorganic arsenic accounts for a small proportion, whereas its content was 1-4 times of the limit in the national food safety standard. The results of Micro-XRF showed that As, Pb, Fe, Cu, Mn, and Ni were mainly distributed on the surface of L. japonica. Among them, As and Pb had a clear tendency to diffuse from the surface to the inside. The results of the study can provide a basis for the processing as well as the medicinal and edible safety evaluation of L. japonica.

Geranylgeranyl transferase 1 inhibitor GGTI­298 enhances the anticancer effect of gefitinib.

Dysregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling is responsible for the resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), such as gefitinib and erlotinib, and is thereby associated with the progression of tumors in non­small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs). Immunoblotting results revealed that geranylgeranyl transferase 1 inhibitor (GGTI)­298, a geranylgeranyl transferase 1 inhibitor with potential antitumor effects, effectively inhibited the phosphorylation of EGFR and its downstream target protein kinase B (AKT). A combination of gefitinib and GGTI­298 amplified the inhibition of the EGFR­AKT signaling pathway. In addition, GGTI­298 treatment produced a synergistic effect on the inhibition of proliferation as indicated by the combination index values of <1 when combined with gefitinib in the NSCLC cell lines HCC827 and A549. These synergistic effects were also observed to induce apoptosis and migration inhibition. Further mechanistic studies demonstrated that GGTI­298 inhibited the activity of Ras homolog family member A (RhoA), and downregulation of RhoA with small interfering RNA impaired the phosphorylation of EGFR, which suggested that EGFR inhibition by GGTI­298 may be exerted mainly through RhoA mediation. These results presented a novel, promising therapeutic strategy involving a combination of two drugs for targeting EGFR signaling in lung cancer.

[Analysis of Factors Influencing Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Collection of 151 Lymphoma Cases].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the influential factors related to mobilization and collection of stem cells so as to improve the collection efficiency of autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation in lymphoma patients. METHODS: The peripheral blood stem cell collection data of 151 cases of lymphoma in our hospital was analyzed retrospectively. The relationship between the harvested CD34(+) stem cells and some factors, such as age, sex, height, weight, histological type, staging, mobilization programs, collecting days, blood transfusion, time and duration of chemotherapy, was analyzed. RESULTS: The single factor analysis showed that sex, height, weight, histological type, staging, mobilization program, collecting days, blood transfusion were not significantly associated with CD34(+) stem cells collection, respectively. Age (r = -0.248, P = 0.002), duration of sick and cycles of chemotherapy were significantly associated with CD34(+) cell collection. At the age older than 50 years, the collected CD34(+) cell number decreased significantly; and at the age older than 60 years, the CD34(+) cell number was greatly reduced; CD34(+) cells non-significantly correlated with peripheral blood WBC (r = 0.053, P = 0.527), but significantly with the percentage of mononuclear cells (r = 0.260, P = 0.002) and the absolute value of mononuclear cells (r = 0.338, P = 0.00003) . CONCLUSION: The patients less than 60 years old, fewer chemotherapy cycles, shorter duration time or PB mononuclear cells between (2-6) × 10(9)/L may contribute to the better mobilization and collection of peripheral blood stem cells.