Pyroptosis in neurodegenerative diseases: from bench to bedside.

The central nervous system regulates all aspects of physiology to some extent. Neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs) lead to the progressive loss and dysfunction of neurons, which are particularly evident in Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and many other conditions. NDDs are multifactorial diseases with complex pathogeneses, and there has been a rapid increase in the prevalence of NDDs. However, none of these diseases can be cured, making the development of novel treatment strategies an urgent necessity. Numerous studies have indicated how pyroptosis induces inflammation and affects many aspects of NDD. Therefore, components related to pyroptosis are potential therapeutic candidates and are attracting increasing attention. Here, we review the role of pyroptosis in the pathogenesis of NDDs and potential treatment options. Additionally, several of the current drugs and relevant inhibitors are discussed. Through this article, we provide theoretical support for exploring new therapeutic targets and updating clinical treatment strategies for NDDs. Notably, pyroptosis, a recently widely studied mode of cell death, is still under-researched compared to other traditional forms of cell death. Moreover, the focus of research has been on the onset and progression of NDDs, and the lack of organ-specific target discovery and drug development is a common problem for many basic studies. This urgent problem requires scientists and companies worldwide to collaborate in order to develop more effective drugs against NDDs.

Enhanced Heterogeneous Catalytic Activity of Peroxymonosulfate for Rhodamine B Degradation via a CoII-Based Metal-Organic Framework.

A stable metal-organic framework with the formula {[Co(BBZB)(IPA)]·H2O}n (JXUST-23, BBZB = 4,7-bis(1H-benzimidazole-1-yl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole and H2IPA = isophthalic acid) was constructed by incorporating Co2+ ions and two conjugated ligands under solvothermal conditions. JXUST-23 takes a dinuclear cluster-based layer structure with a porosity of 2.7%. In this work, JXUST-23 was used to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade rhodamine B (RhB), a difficult-to-degrade pollutant in water. Compared with pure PMS or JXUST-23, the JXUST-23/PMS system displays the best degradation ability of RhB in neutral solution. When the mass ratio of JXUST-23 to PMS was 2:3, 99.72% of RhB (50 ppm) was removed within 60 min, and the reaction rate was 0.1 min-1. Furthermore, free radical quenching experiments show that SO4•- was the main free radical during the process of RhB degradation. In addition, JXUST-23 exhibits good reusability for the degradation of the organic dye RhB, making it a potential candidate for environmental remediation.

Trend analysis of mortality and early death burden of cardiovascular diseases from 2009 to 2018 in Ningbo / 预防医学

Objective@#To understand the trend of cardiovascular diseases death and disease burden caused by early death from 2009 to 2018 in Ningbo, so as to provide evidence for the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease.@*Methods@#The monitoring data of cardiovascular diseases death from 2009 to 2018 was collected from Ningbo death cause surveillance system. The mortality rate, early death probability, years of life lost ( YLL ) and working years of potential life lost ( WYPLL ) were calculated, and the mortality rate and YLL rate were standardized by 2010 national standard population. The annual percentage change ( APC ) was used to measure the time trend. @*Results@#From 2009 to 2018, there were 42 961 deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Ningbo, with a mortality rate of 7.35/104, a standardized mortality rate of 4.25/104, and an early death probability of 0.84%. The APC of cardiovascular disease mortality and standardized mortality were 57.488% and 6.004%, both showing an upward trend ( P<0.05 ); the APC of the probability of early death was -1.253%, showing a downward trend ( P<0.05 ). The male mortality rate was 4.16×104, which was lower than the female's 4.36/104 ( P<0.05 ). The YLL, standardized YLL rate, and WYPLL for cardiovascular diseases were 329 266.65 person-years, 3.82‰, and 18 355.63 person-years, respectively. The overall APC of YLL is 1.700%, showing an upward trend ( P<0.05 ). The standardized YLL rate of cardiovascular diseases increased with age ( P<0.05 ). with the APC of 1.503%. Ischemic heart disease and hypertensive heart disease were dominant, their YLLs were 105 949.75 and 46 015.68 person-years, respectively. @*Conclusion@#From 2009 to 2018, the mortality of cardiovascular diseases show an increasing trend, while the burden caused by early death in Ningbo reverses. Women and the elderly are high-risk groups, and ischemic heart disease and hypertensive heart disease are high-risk diseases.

[Internal and external fixation combined with second stage perforator flap for the treatment of ankle fracture dislocation of Gustilo-Anderson types â ¢B and â ¢ C].

OBJECTIVE: To explore clinical effect of internal and external fixation combined with second-stage perforator fiap for the treatment of ankle fracture dislocation of Gustilo-Anderson types ⅢB and ⅢC. METHODS: From May 2014 to July 2017, 20 patients with Gustilo-Anderson types ⅢB and ⅢC ankle fracture dislocation were treated with internal and external fixation combined with second-stage perforator fiap, including 14 males and 6 females, aged from 18 to 58 years old with an average of (39.0±9.7) years old;17 patients were type ⅢB and 3 patients were type ⅢC according to Gustilo-Anderson classification;4 patients were type A, 7 patients were type B, and 9 patients were type C according to AO classification. The size of wound ranged from 4 cm×3 cm to 20 cm×9 cm. Second-stage perforator flap, 11 patients were performed with posterior tibial artery perforator flap, 5 patients were performed with fibular artery perforator flap, 1 patient was performed with anterior ankle flap, and 3 patients were performed with posterior tibial artery perforator flap combined with fibular artery perforator flap. Postoperative wound healing, flap survival and fracture healing were observed, AOFAS score was used to evaluate at the latest follow up. RESULTS: All limbs were preserved successfully without amputation. Nine patients occurred superficial infection without deep infection and osteomyelitis occurring. The flaps of 19 patients survived. All patients were followed up for 6 to 18 months with an average of (12.0±2.9) months. The flaps healed well without sinus tract, bone exposure and bone disunion occurring. Fracture healing time ranged from 4 to 10 months with an average of (6.6±1.7) months. PostoperativeAOFAS score was 76.7± 16.4, among which 4 patients got excellent result, 11 patients good, 3 patients fair, and 2 poor. CONCLUSION: Internal and external fixation combined with second stage perforator fiap for the treatment of ankle fracture dislocation of Gustilo-Anderson types ⅢB and ⅢC could effectively close the wound, improve fracture healing and restore appearance and function of limbs to the maximum.

Anthropogenic impacts on sulfonamide residues and sulfonamide resistant bacteria and genes in Larut and Sangga Besar River, Perak.

The environmental reservoirs of sulfonamide (SA) resistome are still poorly understood. We investigated the potential sources and reservoir of SA resistance (SR) in Larut River and Sangga Besar River by measuring the SA residues, sulfamethoxazole resistant (SMXr) in bacteria and their resistance genes (SRGs). The SA residues measured ranged from lower than quantification limits (LOQ) to 33.13 ng L-1 with sulfadiazine (SDZ), sulfadimethoxine (SDM) and SMX as most detected. Hospital wastewater effluent was detected with the highest SA residues concentration followed by the slaughterhouse and zoo wastewater effluents. The wastewater effluents also harbored the highest abundance of SMXr-bacteria (107 CFU mL-1) and SRGs (10-1/16S copies mL-1). Pearson correlation showed only positive correlation between the PO4 and SMXr-bacteria. In conclusion, wastewater effluents from the zoo, hospital and slaughterhouse could serve as important sources of SA residues that could lead to the consequent emergence of SMXr-bacteria and SRGs in the river.

Species-specific profiles and risk assessment of perfluoroalkyl substances in coral reef fishes from the South China Sea.

The contamination profiles of sixteen perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were examined in coral reef fish samples collected from the South China Sea (SCS) where no information about this topic was available in the literature. The results revealed that six PFAS were found in coral reef fish samples from the SCS. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was the most predominant PFAS contaminant detected in most of the samples, with the highest concentration value of 27.05 ng/g wet weight (ww) observed in Cephalopholis urodelus. Perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA) and Perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA) were the second and third dominant PFAS, respectively. Mean PFOS concentrations in muscle of seven coral reef fish varied from 0.29 ng/g ww in Lethrinus olivaceus to 10.78 ng/g ww in Cephalopholis urodelus. No significant linear relationship was observed between PFOS levels and coral reef fish traits (length, weight) collected in this region. Average daily intake of PFOS for the seven coral reef fishes ranged from 0.79 ng/kg/d for Lethrinus olivaceus to 29.53 ng/kg/d for Cephalopholis urodelus. The hazard ratio (HR) values for human consumption of PFOS-contaminated coral reef fishes ranged from 0.04 to 1.48, with Cephalopholis urodelus having the highest HR value of 1.18 (higher than 1) among the species, indicating frequent consumption of Cephalopholis urodelus might pose potential health risk to local population. The present work have provided the first hand data of PFAS in coral reef fishes in the SCS and indirectly demonstrated the existence of low level PFAS pollution in the SCS in China.

Rhizobium rhizosphaerae sp. nov., a novel species isolated from rice rhizosphere.

Two novel, Gram-negative, motile, rod-shaped, aerobic bacterial strains, MH17T and RD15, were isolated from the sterilized root and rhizosphere soil of rice, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that the similarity between strains MH17T and RD15 was 100%. The isolates exhibit high sequence similarities to Rhizobium oryzae CGMCC 1.7048T (98.7%) and Rhizobium petrolearium SL-1T (97.0% and 97.1%), which supports that they belong to a novel species in the genus Rhizobium. Strains MH17T and RD15 exhibited growth at 15-45 °C, pH 5.0-11.0, 0-2.0% sodium chloride (w/v). Sequence analysis of housekeeping genes gyrB, recA, atpD, ropB, gltA showed that these two novel strains had less than 94% similarity with the known species, indicating the distinct position of MH17T and RD15 in the genus Rhizobium. The major cellular fatty acids were identified as summed feature 8 (C18:1 ω7c and/or C18:1 ω6c). Type strain MH17T had 87.5% DNA-DNA relatedness with RD15 by using the initial renaturation rate method. Based on draft genome sequences, strain MH17T showed 30.1% DNA-DNA hybridization values to R. oryzae CGMCC 1.7048T, the closely related strain, which supported that MH17T represents a novel species in the genus Rhizobium. Average nucleotide identity (ANI) between strains MH17T and RD15 were 97.8%, and strain MH17T showed 82.2% ANI value with R. oryzae CGMCC 1.7048T. The DNA G+C content was 60.4 mol% (Tm). Based on physiological, biochemical characteristic, genotypic data, strains MH17T and RD15 are concluded to represent a new species within the genus Rhizobium, for which the name Rhizobium rhizosphaerae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MH17T (=ACCC 19963T = KCTC 52414T).

Rhizobium oryziradicis sp. nov., isolated from rice roots.

Two Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, rod-shaped endophytic bacterial strains, N19T and N11-2, were isolated from fresh rice (Oryza sativa) roots during investigation of the rice endophytic bacterial diversity. The 16S rRNA gene sequence results indicated that the similarity between strains N19T and N11-2 was 100 %. Both of them belong to the genus Rhizobium, with close similarity to Rhizobium taibaishanense CCNWSX 0483T (97.7 %), followed by Rhizobium vitis NCPPB 3554T (97.5 %). The sequence similarities of the housekeeping genes recA, gyrB and glnA between the novel isolates and members of the established species of the genus Rhizobium were less than 87 %. The DNA-DNA hybridization rates between strains N19T and N11-2 were 87.9 % using the initial renaturation rate method. Based on draft genome sequences, strain N19T showed 18.2 % and 19.6 % DNA-DNA hybridization values to R. taibaishanense CCNWSX 0483T and R. vitis S4, which demonstrated that these new isolates represent a novel species in the genus Rhizobium. The main cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c). The DNA G+C content of strain N19T was 58.7 mol% (Tm). The polar lipid profile of N19T consisted of phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, an unknown lipid, two unknown aminolipids and an unidentified aminophospholipid. According to physiological and biochemical characteristics and genotypic data, strains N19T and N11-2 are considered to represent a novel species of the genus Rhizobium, for which the name Rhizobium oryziradicis sp. nov. is proposed, with N19T (=ACCC 19962T=KCTC 52413T) as the type strain.

Paenibacillus oryzisoli sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of rice.

A novel bacterium, strain 1ZS3-15T, was isolated from rhizosphere of rice. Its taxonomic position was investigated using a polyphasic approach. The novel strain was observed to be Gram-stain positive, spore-forming, aerobic, motile and rod-shaped. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain 1ZS3-15T was recovered within the genus Paenibacillus. It is closely related to Paenibacillus pectinilyticus KCTC 13222T (97.9 % similarity), Paenibacillus frigoriresistens CCTCC AB 2011150T (96.8 %), Paenibacillus alginolyticus JCM 9068T (96.4 %) and Paenibacillus chondroitinus DSM 5051T (95.5 %). The fatty acid profile of strain 1ZS3-15T, which showed a predominance of anteiso-C15:0 and iso-C16:0, supported the allocation of the strain into the genus Paenibacillus. The predominant menaquinone was found to be MK-7. The polar lipids profile of strain 1ZS3-15T was found to consist of diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, one unidentified lipid and two unidentified aminophospholipids. The cell wall peptidoglycan contains meso-diaminopimelic acid. Based on draft genome sequences, the DNA-DNA relatedness between strain 1ZS3-15T and the closely related species P. pectinilyticus KCTC 13222T are 24.2 ± 1.0 %, and the Average Nucleotide Identity values between the strains are 78.9 ± 0.1 %, which demonstrated that this isolate represents a new species in the genus Paenibacillus. The DNA G+C content was determined to be 45.3 mol%, which is within the range reported for Paenibacillus species. Characterisation by genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic analysis indicated that strain 1ZS3-15T represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillus oryzisoli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is 1ZS3-15T (= ACCC 19783T = JCM 30487T).

Paenibacillusoryzae sp. nov., isolated from rice roots.

A novel endophytic bacterium, strain 1DrF-4T, isolated from rice roots, was characterized on the basis of its phenotypic characteristics and genotypic information. The novel strain was Gram-positive-staining, endospore-forming, facultatively anaerobic, motile and rod-shaped. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain 1DrF-4T formed a monophyletic clade within the genus Paenibacillus. The most phylogenetically related species was Paenibacillus pinesoli KACC 17472T, with which strain 1DrF-4T showed 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity of 95.2 %. 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities with type strains of other species of the genus Paenibacillus were less than 95 %. The predominant cellular fatty acids were anteiso-C15 : 0 (61.1 %) and C16 : 0 (11.1 %), which is one of the characteristic traits of the genus Paenibacillus. The quinone system contained exclusively menaquinone MK-7. The polar lipid profile contained diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, glycolipid and an unknown phospholipid. The DNA G+C content was 50.16 mol%, which was within the range reported for species of the genus Paenibacillus. Characterization by genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phenotypic analysis indicated that strain 1DrF-4T (=ACCC 19927T=JCM 30486T) represents a novel species of the genus Paenibacillus, for which the name Paenibacillusoryzae sp. nov. is proposed.

[Advances on pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicine under disease states].

In recent years, more and more research shows that the pharmacokinetic parameter of traditional Chinese medicine can be affected by the disease states. It's possible that drug metabolic enzymes, transporters, cell membrane permeability and the change of microbes group could be interfered with physiological and pathological changes, which enables the pharmacokinetics of traditional Chinese medicine in the body to be altered, including the process of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion, and then the pharmacokinetic parameters of traditional chinese medicine are altered. It's found that investigating the pharmacokinetic of traditional Chinese medicine in the pathological state is more useful than that of in normal state because the great part of traditional Chinese medicine is mainly used to treat disease. This article reflects the latest research on the pharmacokinetic of traditional Chinese medicine in the disease state such as diabete, cerebral ischemia, liver injury, inflammatory disease, nervous system disorders and fever in order to provide certain reference for clinicians designing reasonable administration dose.

[Research on bioactive ingredients in rat liver after oral administration of different combinations of Wuji pill].

A L9 (3(4)) orthogonal design table to be used to get nine combinations of extraction of three herbs of Wuji pill: Coptis chinensis, Tetradium ruticarpum and Paeonia lactiflora Pall., and nine extraction of single herbs correspondingly, altogether eighteen combinations. Quantification of five representative bioactive ingredients: berberine, palmatine, evodiamine, rutaecarpine, paeoniflorin in rat liver by ultra high liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after oral administration at 2 h time point of eighteen combinations. The result shows the bioactive ingredients have different concentrations betweem different combinations and the single herb with the same dosage significantly as well as the same dose combinations. C. chinensis with evodiamine concentration of low and high dose T. ruticarpum was positively correlated. T. ruticarpum with berberine concentration of low dose C. chinensis was negatively correlated and of meddle dose C. chinensis was correlated positively. T. ruticarpum with paeoniflorin concentration of middle dose P. lactiflora was correlated positively. P. lactiflora with palmatine concentration of middle dose C. chinensis was negatively correlated and with evodiamine and rutaecarpine concentration of middle dose T. ruticarpum was negatively correlated. These shows the three single herbs interactions resulted in the differences of each ingredients concentration in rat liver. The orthogonal analysis indicates the combination 12: 6: 6 make the maximum concentration in rat liver.

SPECT myocardial perfusion versus fractional flow reserve for evaluation of functional ischemia: a meta analysis.

PURPOSE: The present meta-analysis illustrates the accuracy of myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) to diagnose functional stenotic coronary artery disease (CAD) with fractional flow reserve (FFR) as standard reference. METHODS: All investigators screened and selected studies that compared MPS with FFR in symptomatic patients with suspected CAD. Patients and study characteristics were independently extracted by two investigators; differences were resolved by consensus. RESULTS: 13 articles, including 1,017 patients, 699 vessels were included in the study. No significant publication bias was detected (P=0.65). At the patient level, the summary sensitivity and specificity were 77% (95% confidence interval [CI], 70-83%) and 77% (95%CI, 67-84%) for MPS. Vessel-level pooled sensitivity was 66% (95%CI, 57-74%) and specificity was 81% (95%CI, 70-89%). The overall diagnostic performance of MPS was moderate. [The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic (sROC) curve was 0.83]. No study influenced the pooled results larger than 0.03. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy between FFR and MPS SPECT was moderate.

Cloning and characterization of a potato StAN11 gene involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis regulation.

Anthocyanins are a class of products of plant secondary metabolism and are responsible for tubers color in potato. The biosynthesis of anthocyanins is a complex biological process, in which multiple genes are involved including structural genes and regulatory genes. In this study, StAN11, a WD40-repeat gene, was cloned from potato cultivar Chieftain (Solanum tuberosum L.). StAN11 (HQ599506) contained no intron and its open reading frame (ORF) was 1,029 bp long, encoding a putative protein of 342 amino acids. In order to verify its role in anthocyanin biosynthesis, StAN11 was inserted behind the CaMV-35S promoter of pCMBIA1304 and the recombination vector was introduced into the potato cultivar Désirée plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The color of transgenic tuber skin was significantly deepened, compared to the wild-type control, which was highly consistent with the accumulation of anthocyanin and expression of StAN11 in transgenic lines tuber skin. Further analysis on the expression of Flavonone-3-hydroxylase (F3H), Dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR), Anthocyanidin synthase (ANS), and Flavonoid 3-O-glucosyl transferase (3GT) in transgenic plants revealed that only DFR was upregulated. This result suggested that StAN11 regulated anthocyanin biosynthesis in potato by controlling DFR expression and accumulation of anthocyanin could be increased through overexpression of StAN11 in the tubers with the genetic background of anthocyanin biosynthesis.

[Effect of Shenlian extracts on blood flow and vessel pathological changes in rabbits carotid atherosclerosis model induced by low shear stress].

Lipid accumulation in the vessel wall and tunica intima vasorum pathological changes are important factors in the development of atherosclerosis, which are closely related with hemodynamics. In this paper, we established a model of local low shear stress in rabbits using carotid artery cannula and a high cholesterol diet for 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks. The effects of Shenlian extract on blood flow, vascular pathology formation and lipid metabolism were assessed by electromagnetic blood flow meter and hematoxylin-eosin staining of the proximal end in carotid artery at different times. The results demonstrate that the relationship between blood flow and shear stress for control, atorvastatin, Shenlian extract high-dose, Shenlian extract middle-dose, and Shenlian extract low-dose were linearly related. The blood flow and the shear stress of proximal end in carotid artery of Shenlian extract (1.12, 2.24, 4.48 g x kg(-1)), and atorvastatin (4.7 x 10(-4) g x kg(-1)) were significantly (P < 0.05)increased compared with the control. Plasma total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ,and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were markedly decreased with the increasing of dose and time. This study is the first to prove that the inhibition of Shenlian extract on low shear stress (LSS) induces rabbits carotid atherosclerosis with increasing blood flow and decreasing lipids and vessel pathological changes.

[Study on metabolism of Coptis chinensis alkaloids from different compatibility of Wuji Wan in human intestinal flora].

OBJECTIVE: To study the metabolism of berberine and palmatine in prescription compatibility of Wuji Wan in human intestinal flora. METHOD: The L9 (3(4)) orthogonal design was adopted to compare prescription compatibility of nine groups of Wuji Wan composed of Coptis chinensis, Evodiae and fried Radix paeoniae alba into and single ingredient of C. chinensis. They were cultivated with fresh human excrements under anaerobic conditions for 24 h. A HPLC-UV method was adopted for determining berberine and palmatine in bacteria culture medium, in order to compare the metabolism of the two components in different prescription compatibility. RESULT: Metabolism of berberine was positively correlated with doses, whereas metabolism of palmatine was negatively correlated with doses in extracts from C. chinensis. Compound compatibility speeded up the metabolism of berberine in low dose, which was positively related to the doses of Evodiae and fried Paeoniae Alba Radix; meanwhile Compound compatibility slowed down the metabolism of berberine in high dose, which was negatively related to the dose of Evodiae. Compound compatibility speeded up the metabolism of palmatine in high dose, which was negatively related to the doses of Evodiae and fried Paeoniae Alba Radix. CONCLUSION: The metabolism of the compatibility of Wuji Wan speeds up, when Coptis chinensis components metabolite rapidly in intestinal flora; while the metabolism of the compatibility of Wuji Wan slows down, when C. chinensis components metabolite slowly in intestinal flora. Therefore, they show a balanced effect. Additionally, different proportion of C. chinensis, Evodiae and fried Paeoniae Alba Radix cause difference in metabolism speed of berberine and palmatine to some extent.

[Atmospheric deposition of polychlorinated naphthalenes in Dongjiang River basin of Guangdong Province].

Atmospheric deposition of polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) was investigated at 11 sites in Dongjiang River basin of Guangdong Province during the winter (January and February) and summer (July and August) of 2010 to assess the effect of PCNs on those areas. The average daily deposition fluxes of total PCNs was 828 pg x (m2 x d)(-1), and the corresponding TEQ was 0.14 pg x (m2 x d)(-1). Based on these values, the presumed average annual deposition value of sigma PCNs was 8.5 kg for Dongjiang River basin within Guangdong province, while the corresponding TEQ was 1.3 g. Spatially, the average daily deposition fluxes of PCNs in Guangzhou and Dongguan were much higher than that in Huizhou, and the fluxes were higher in urban areas than those in rural areas. Seasonally, the fluxes were generally higher in summer than those in winter. Tri-CNs dominated the deposition fluxes in all samples and contributed to more than 50% of total PCNs. In addition, higher contents of high chlorinated PCNs (penta-CNs to octa-CN) were found in Guangzhou and Dongguan in comparison with Huizhou. Combustion and other sources may both contribute to the PCNs emission in the Dongjiang River basin. Combustion related source may be the main contributor of PCNs in Dongguan; while non-combustion related source may dominate the contribution to the site of Guangzhou.

[An update on the development of transgenic animal technology].

The animal transgenic technology has increasingly turned mature over several decades and promoted the research of transgenic technology to a new developmental phase. In this review, various kinds of transgenic technologies, including somatic cell nuclear transfer, gene transfer mediated by transposon, gene knockout mediated by RNA interference, and zinc-finger nucleases-gene targeting technology, are summarized. Recently, the success of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), which has provided an alternative way to derive pluripotent stem cells of large animals, will extend the field of transgenic animal studies. Here, we summarized the latest trends on the basis of previous studies. In addition, the characteristics of different kinds of transgenic methods in detail are discussed.

[Synthesis and activity of ACE inhibitory peptides].

To find anti-hypertensive lead drug, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory peptides were synthesized and their effects on inhibiting ACE activity were investigated. ACE inhibitory peptides were synthesized via Fmoc solid-phase synthesis, isolated and purified through reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), and identified by mass spectrometry. A RP-HPLC analysis method was used to test ACE inhibitory activity in vitro of these ACE inhibitory peptides. Six octapeptides were successfully synthesized, and the analytical results of mass spectrum were consistent with their theoretically calculated data. Among these synthetic octapeptides, the anti-SARS (severe acute respiratory syndromes) octapeptide had the most obvious ACE inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 3.4 x 10(-5) mol x L(-1). So octapeptide AVLQSGFR-OH (anti-SARS peptide) was found to be the strongest candidate for potential development as an anti-hypertensive drug and had the implication of further study.

Prediction of protein structural classes by recurrence quantification analysis based on chaos game representation.

In this paper, we intend to predict protein structural classes (alpha, beta, alpha+beta, or alpha/beta) for low-homology data sets. Two data sets were used widely, 1189 (containing 1092 proteins) and 25PDB (containing 1673 proteins) with sequence homology being 40% and 25%, respectively. We propose to decompose the chaos game representation of proteins into two kinds of time series. Then, a novel and powerful nonlinear analysis technique, recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), is applied to analyze these time series. For a given protein sequence, a total of 16 characteristic parameters can be calculated with RQA, which are treated as feature representation of protein sequences. Based on such feature representation, the structural class for each protein is predicted with Fisher's linear discriminant algorithm. The jackknife test is used to test and compare our method with other existing methods. The overall accuracies with step-by-step procedure are 65.8% and 64.2% for 1189 and 25PDB data sets, respectively. With one-against-others procedure used widely, we compare our method with five other existing methods. Especially, the overall accuracies of our method are 6.3% and 4.1% higher for the two data sets, respectively. Furthermore, only 16 parameters are used in our method, which is less than that used by other methods. This suggests that the current method may play a complementary role to the existing methods and is promising to perform the prediction of protein structural classes.