Clinical value of retinol binding protein, C-reactive protein and urine microalbumin in patients with chronic renal disease and ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the diagnostic value of retinol binding protein (RBP), C-reactive protein (CRP) and urine microalbumin (UMA) for ischemic cerebrovascular disease (ICD) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: In this study, a total of 118 patients with CKD were selected and grouped into two groups: a group of patients who were complicated with ICD (CKD+ICD group, n=58), and a group of patients with CKD only (CKD group, n=60). Then, the patients in the CKD+ICD group were further classified into a good prognosis group and a bad prognosis group according their modified Rankin scale score at sixth months after discharge. Serum RBP, CRP and urine UMA levels were compared between the CKD group and CKD+ICD group. The diagnostic efficiency of serum RBP, CRP and urine UMA levels for ICD in patients with CKD was analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to assess their prognostic performance. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk factors for poor prognosis of patients with CKD and ICD. RESULTS: The levels of RBP, CRP, and UMA in the CKD+ICD group were significantly higher than those in the CKD group (all P<0.05). RBP demonstrated the highest diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity for ICD in CKD patients, while CRP and UMA exhibited equivalent specificity, surpassing that of RBP. ROC curves showed that the areas under the curve (AUCs) of RBP and CRP were significantly greater than that of UMA (P<0.05) and there was no significant difference for AUCs between RBP and CRP. In addition, the levels of RBP, CRP and UMA in the poor prognosis group were significantly higher than those in the good prognosis group (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that RBP, CRP and UMA were independent risk factors for the poor prognosis of patients with CKD and ICD (Odds ratios =2.507, 3.677 and 1.919, respectively; all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The assessment of RBP, CRP and UMA is recommended for diagnosis of ICD in CKD patients. RBP, CRP and UMA are independent risk factors for poor prognosis of CKD patients with ICD.

The nuclear orphan receptor COUP-TFII is required for limb and skeletal muscle development.

The nuclear orphan receptor COUP-TFII is widely expressed in multiple tissues and organs throughout embryonic development, suggesting that COUP-TFII is involved in multiple aspects of embryogenesis. Because of the early embryonic lethality of COUP-TFII knockout mice, the role of COUP-TFII during limb development has not been determined. COUP-TFII is expressed in lateral plate mesoderm of the early embryo prior to limb bud formation. In addition, COUP-TFII is also expressed in the somites and skeletal muscle precursors of the limbs. Therefore, in order to study the potential role of COUP-TFII in limb and skeletal muscle development, we bypassed the early embryonic lethality of the COUP-TFII mutant by using two methods. First, embryonic chimera analysis has revealed an obligatory role for COUP-TFII in limb bud outgrowth since mutant cells are unable to contribute to the distally growing limb mesenchyme. Second, we used a conditional-knockout approach to ablate COUP-TFII specifically in the limbs. Loss of COUP-TFII in the limbs leads to hypoplastic skeletal muscle development, as well as shorter limbs. Taken together, our results demonstrate that COUP-TFII plays an early role in limb bud outgrowth but not limb bud initiation. Also, COUP-TFII is required for appropriate development of the skeletal musculature of developing limbs.

Fabrication of TiO2/Ti electrode by laser-assisted anodic oxidation and its application on photoelectrocatalytic degradation of methylene blue.

A TiO2/Ti mesh electrode by laser calcination was prepared in this article. The resulting TiO2 film was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and it illuminated that the prepared electrode mainly consisted of anatase TiO2 nanoparticles on its surface and exhibited a superior photocatalytic activity. The photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) using the proposed electrode under different experimental conditions was investigated in terms of both UV absorbance at 664 nm and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. The electrical bias applied in photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) oxidation was also studied. The experimental results showed that under the optimal potential of +0.50 V (versus SCE), UV absorbance and COD removal during the photodegradation of MB by the proposed TiO2/Ti mesh electrode were 97.3% and 87.0%, respectively. Through the comparison between photocatalytic (PC) oxidation and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) oxidation, it was found that PEC oxidation was a convenient and effective way to mineralize the organic matters and that laser-treated photoelectrode exceeded the oven-treated one.

The nuclear orphan receptor COUP-TFII plays an essential role in adipogenesis, glucose homeostasis, and energy metabolism.

Adipose tissue development and function play a central role in the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of metabolic syndromes. Here, we show that chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII) plays a pivotal role in adipogenesis and energy homeostasis. COUP-TFII is expressed in the early stages of white adipocyte development. COUP-TFII heterozygous mice (COUP-TFII(+/-)) have much less white adipose tissue (WAT) than wild-type mice (COUP-TFII(+/+)). COUP-TFII(+/-) mice display a decreased expression of key regulators for WAT development. Knockdown COUP-TFII in 3T3-L1 cells resulted in an increased expression of Wnt10b, while chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that Wnt10b is a direct target of COUP-TFII. Moreover, COUP-TFII(+/-) mice have increased mitochondrial biogenesis in WAT, and COUP-TFII(+/-) mice have improved glucose homeostasis and increased energy expenditure. Thus, COUP-TFII regulates adipogenesis by regulating the key molecules in adipocyte development and can serve as a target for regulating energy metabolism.

Photoelectro-synergistic catalysis combined with a FIA system application on determination of chemical oxygen demand.

In this paper, photoelectro-synergistic catalysis oxidation of organics in the water on Ti/TiO(2)/PbO(2) electrode was investigated. The prepared TiO(2) film was investigated with Atomic force micrograph (AFM). Furthermore, the results were compared with those obtained from electrocatalysis (EC) and electro-assisted photocatalysis (PC). The method proposed employed photoelectro-synergistic catalysis (PEC), together with flow injection analysis, to determine the chemical oxygen demand (COD) values. It was shown that the method of photoelectro-synergistic catalysis had lower detection limit (15.0mg l(-1)) and wider linear range (30.0-2500.0mg l(-1)) than the methods of electro-assisted photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. The results obtained by the proposed method and conventional one were compared by carrying out the experiment on 20 wastewater samples and also agreed well by high correlation (R=0.9912).

Determination of chemical oxygen demand values by a photocatalytic oxidation method using nano-TiO2 film on quartz.

A COD measurement by a photocatalytic oxidation method using nano-TiO(2) film was investigated. K(2)Cr(2)O(7) was added into the solution to enhance the efficiency of photocatalytic degradation, and simultaneously K(2)Cr(2)O(7) was reduced to Cr(III) by photogenerated electrons, which were adsorbed on the surface of TiO(2). The measuring principle was based on direct determination of Cr(III) concentration which was proportional to the COD value. Under the optimized experiment condition, the application range was 20-500 mgl(-1), and the detection limit was 20 mgl(-1). The immobilization of photocatalyst on the supports could not only solve the problem of low recovery of the catalyst and hard separation from the solution, but also overcome its shortcoming of poor stability. Applied this method to the determination of real samples, it was found to be rapid and environmentally friendly. Additionally, the method proposed above for determination of COD was in excellent correspondence with values obtained by using the conventional method.

Agrobacterium flagellar switch gene fliG is liquid inducible and important for virulence.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 was mutagenized with a mini-Tn5 transposon containing a promoterless gene encoding the green fluorescent protein (GFP). A mutant, CGS74, exhibited a higher GFP expression level in liquid media than on solid media. The ability of the mutant to cause tumors on plants was attenuated. Sequence analysis showed that the transposon was inserted at the fliG gene, which encodes a flagellar motor switch protein required for flagellar movement. Studies of the fliG-gfp fusion gene indicated that the promoter activity of the fliG gene was higher in liquid than in solid media. Electron microscopy studies demonstrated that the mutant was nonflagellate. This suggests that the A. tumefaciens motility is important for virulence and that bacterial flagellar synthesis occurs at a higher level in a liquid environment than in a solid environment, perhaps resulting in a higher motility.

A global pH sensor: Agrobacterium sensor protein ChvG regulates acid-inducible genes on its two chromosomes and Ti plasmid.

A sensor protein ChvG is part of a chromosomally encoded two-component regulatory system ChvG/ChvI that is important for the virulence of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. However, it is not clear what genes ChvG regulates or what signal(s) it senses. In this communication, we demonstrate that ChvG is involved in the regulation of acid-inducible genes, including aopB and katA, residing on the circular and linear chromosomes, respectively, and the tumor-inducing (Ti)-plasmid-harbored vir genes, virB and virE. ChvG was absolutely required for the expression of aopB and very important for the expression of virB and virE. However, it was responsible only for the responsiveness of katA and, to a limited extent, the vir genes to acidic pH. ChvG appears to play a role in katA expression by repressing katA at neutral pH. ChvG had no effect on the expression of two genes that were not acid-inducible. Because ChvG regulates unlinked acid-inducible genes encoding different functions in different ways, we hypothesize that ChvG is a global sensor protein that can directly or indirectly sense extracellular acidity. We also analyzed the re-sequenced chvG and found that ChvG is more homologous to its Sinorhizobium meliloti counterpart ExoS than was previously thought. Full-length ChvG is conserved in members of the alpha-proteobacteria, whereas only the C-terminal kinase domain is conserved in other bacteria. Sensing acidity appears to enable Agrobacterium to coordinate its coping with the environment of wounded plants to cause tumors.