In vitro antioxidant activity and inhibitory hepatic steatosis effect on oleic acid-induced fatty liver model of consecutive extracts from Rosa davurica Pall

The nutrient and phytochemical composition of Rosa davurica Pall. fruit (RDF) from China were determined, including sugar, reducing sugar, ascorbic acid, caroteniods and phenolics. RDF was successively extracted with chloroform, ethyl acetate (EA), water-saturated n-butanol, ethanol and distilled water, respectively. Among the five fractions, EA fraction revealed the highest total phenolic content and the strongest antioxidant ability in cyclic voltammograms (CV) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assays. Moreover, the strongest inhibitory activity against oleic acidinduced (OA-induced) fatty liver in vitro was also the EA fraction. Further, it was separated by a semipreparative high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on C18 column. The most active fraction (EA-FII) of EA in all assays above, which mainly included catechin, quercetin-sedoheptulose and quercetin-94, was identified by LC/MS, HPLC and ultraviolet (UV)/V spectrum analysis.Keywords: RDF extracts, composition properties, antioxidant ability, inhibitory activity, oleic acid-induced, HPLC, LC/MS.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(31), pp. 4944-495

Robustness of maintenance support service networks : attributes, evaluation and improvement

Maintenance support service network (MSSN) is used to provide maintenance services and maintain the operational status of equipment. However, the performance of MSSN has been significantly influenced by inevitable disturbance, which makes it vital to maintain its robustness. Existing research on robustness of MSSN mainly focuses on single-layer rather than two-layer network, which imposes constraints on the disturbances and limits its application. To solve these issues, this study develops a two-layer MSSN, consisting of a directed entity-layer and an undirected cyber-layer focusing on supporting maintenance service. A definition of robustness for two-layer MSSN is proposed, and effect propagation models are established to evaluate its robustness of MSSN, followed by its improvement strategies. In particular, two strategies applied in the single-layer MSSN are modified to adapt to the two-layer MSSN, and a novel greedy partnership building approach is proposed to find an optimal strategy under cascading failure, to maintain the robustness of MSSN from a complex network perspective. Finally, numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Screening and Identification of APOC1 as a Novel Potential Biomarker for Differentiate of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in Children

Background: Although mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) is a common cause of community-acquired pneumonia in children, the currently used diagnostic methods are not optimal. Proteomics is increasingly being used to study the biomarkers of infectious diseases. Methods: Label-free quantitative proteomics and liquid chromatography-mass/mass spectrometry were used to analyze the fold change of protein expression in plasma of children with MP pneumonia (MPP), infectious disease control (IDC), and healthy control (HC) groups. Selected proteins that can distinguish MPP from HC and IDC were further validated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results: After multivariate analyses, 27 potential plasma biomarkers were identified to be expressed differently among child MPP, HC, and IDC groups. Among these proteins, SERPINA3, APOC1, ANXA6, KNTC1, and CFLAR were selected for ELISA verification. SERPINA3, APOC1, and CFLAR levels were significantly different among the three groups and the ratios were consistent with the trends of proteomics results. A comparison of MPP patients and HC showed APOC1 had the largest area under the curve (AUC) of 0.853, with 77.6% sensitivity and 81.1% specificity. When APOC1 levels were compared between MPP and IDC patients, it also showed a relatively high AUC of 0.882, with 77.6% sensitivity and 88.3% specificity. Conclusion: APOC1 is a potential biomarker for the rapid and noninvasive diagnosis of MPP in children. The present finding may offer new insights into the pathogenesis and biomarker selection of MPP in children

Exciton-phonon interaction in quasi-two dimensional layered (PEA)2(CsPbBr3)n-1PbBr4 perovskite.

Two-dimensional (2D) Ruddlesden-Popper perovskites with bulky organic cations have attracted extensive attention in light-emitting devices and photovoltaics due to their robust environment stability, tunable luminescent color, strong exciton binding and promising efficiency. A quantum well (QW) structure is spontaneously formed by sandwiching PbBr4 layers into bulky organic cations. However, some intrinsic excitonic mechanisms in these materials still need to be elucidated. In this study, the exciton-phonon interaction of quasi-2D (PEA)2(CsPbBr3)n-1PbBr4 with different PbBr4 layer numbers (n) was analyzed by temperature-varied photoluminescence (PL), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). The mechanism of bandgap shifting with temperature was found to be dominated by the thermal expansion effect in the large-n 2D and bulk perovskite, and gradually switched to exciton-phonon interaction in the n = 1 (PEA)2PbBr4 phase, indicating enhanced exciton-phonon interaction in the thinner quantum well structure. Further analysis showed that the enhanced exciton-phonon interaction originated from the longitudinal optical phonon-exciton Fröhlich interaction rather than acoustic phonon-exciton coupling. We believe that our results will benefit the further optimization of light-emitting devices based on 2D perovskites

Molecular Characterizations of a Novel Putative DNA-Binding Protein LvDBP23 in Marine Shrimp L. vannamei Tissues and Molting Stages

Litopenaeus Vannamei, well known as pacific white shrimp, is the most popular shrimp in the world shrimp market. Identification and characterization of shrimp muscle regulatory genes are not only important for shrimp genetic improvement, but also facilitate comparative genomic tools for understanding of muscle development and regeneration.A novel mRNA encoding for a putative DNA-binding protein LvDBP23 was identified from Litopenaeus vannamei abdominal muscle cDNA library. The LvDBP23 cDNA contains 639 nucleotides of protein-coding sequence with deduced 212 amino acids of predicted molecular mass 23.32 kDa with glycine-rich domain at amino acid position 94-130. The mRNA sequence is successfully used for producing LvDBP23 recombinant protein in sf9 insect cell expression system. The expression of LvDBP23 mRNA is presented in abdominal muscle and swimming leg muscle, as well as other tissues including intestine, lymphoid and gill. The mRNA expression has the highest level in abdominal muscle in all tested tissues. LVDBP23 transcript during the molt cycle is highly expressed in the intermolt stage. In vitro nucleic acid-binding assays reveal that LvDBP23 protein can bind to both ssDNA and dsDNA, indicating its possible role of regulation of gene transcription.We are the first to report a DNA-binding protein identified from the abdominal muscle tissue of marine shrimp L. Vannamei. Its high-level specific expression during the intermot stage suggests its role in the regulation of muscle buildup during the growth phase of shrimp molt cycle

A multi-targeted approach to suppress tumor-promoting inflammation

Cancers harbor significant genetic heterogeneity and patterns of relapse following many therapies are due to evolved resistance to treatment. While efforts have been made to combine targeted therapies, significant levels of toxicity have stymied efforts to effectively treat cancer with multi-drug combinations using currently approved therapeutics. We discuss the relationship between tumor-promoting inflammation and cancer as part of a larger effort to develop a broad-spectrum therapeutic approach aimed at a wide range of targets to address this heterogeneity. Specifically, macrophage migration inhibitory factor, cyclooxygenase-2, transcription factor nuclear factor-κB, tumor necrosis factor alpha, inducible nitric oxide synthase, protein kinase B, and CXC chemokines are reviewed as important antiinflammatory targets while curcumin, resveratrol, epigallocatechin gallate, genistein, lycopene, and anthocyanins are reviewed as low-cost, low toxicity means by which these targets might all be reached simultaneously. Future translational work will need to assess the resulting synergies of rationally designed antiinflammatory mixtures (employing low-toxicity constituents), and then combine this with similar approaches targeting the most important pathways across the range of cancer hallmark phenotypes

Kaposi's Sarcoma Associated Herpes Virus (KSHV) Induced COX-2: A Key Factor in Latency, Inflammation, Angiogenesis, Cell Survival and Invasion

Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), an enigmatic endothelial cell vascular neoplasm, is characterized by the proliferation of spindle shaped endothelial cells, inflammatory cytokines (ICs), growth factors (GFs) and angiogenic factors. KSHV is etiologically linked to KS and expresses its latent genes in KS lesion endothelial cells. Primary infection of human micro vascular endothelial cells (HMVEC-d) results in the establishment of latent infection and reprogramming of host genes, and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is one of the highly up-regulated genes. Our previous study suggested a role for COX-2 in the establishment and maintenance of KSHV latency. Here, we examined the role of COX-2 in the induction of ICs, GFs, angiogenesis and invasive events occurring during KSHV de novo infection of endothelial cells. A significant amount of COX-2 was detected in KS tissue sections. Telomerase-immortalized human umbilical vein endothelial cells supporting KSHV stable latency (TIVE-LTC) expressed elevated levels of functional COX-2 and microsomal PGE2 synthase (m-PGES), and secreted the predominant eicosanoid inflammatory metabolite PGE2. Infected HMVEC-d and TIVE-LTC cells secreted a variety of ICs, GFs, angiogenic factors and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which were significantly abrogated by COX-2 inhibition either by chemical inhibitors or by siRNA. The ability of these factors to induce tube formation of uninfected endothelial cells was also inhibited. PGE2, secreted early during KSHV infection, profoundly increased the adhesion of uninfected endothelial cells to fibronectin by activating the small G protein Rac1. COX-2 inhibition considerably reduced KSHV latent ORF73 gene expression and survival of TIVE-LTC cells. Collectively, these studies underscore the pivotal role of KSHV induced COX-2/PGE2 in creating KS lesion like microenvironment during de novo infection. Since COX-2 plays multiple roles in KSHV latent gene expression, which themselves are powerful mediators of cytokine induction, anti-apoptosis, cell survival and viral genome maintainence, effective inhibition of COX-2 via well-characterized clinically approved COX-2 inhibitors could potentially be used in treatment to control latent KSHV infection and ameliorate KS

Whole-genome sequencing of the snub-nosed monkey provides insights into folivory and evolutionary history

Colobines are a unique group of Old World monkeys that principally eat leaves and seeds rather than fruits and insects. We report the sequencing at 146× coverage, de novo assembly and analyses of the genome of a male golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) and resequencing at 30× coverage of three related species (Rhinopithecus bieti, Rhinopithecus brelichi and Rhinopithecus strykeri). Comparative analyses showed that Asian colobines have an enhanced ability to derive energy from fatty acids and to degrade xenobiotics. We found evidence for functional evolution in the colobine RNASE1 gene, encoding a key secretory RNase that digests the high concentrations of bacterial RNA derived from symbiotic microflora. Demographic reconstructions indicated that the profile of ancient effective population sizes for R. roxellana more closely resembles that of giant panda rather than its congeners. These findings offer new insights into the dietary adaptations and evolutionary history of colobine primates