Dengue-1 Envelope Protein Domain III along with PELC and CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides Synergistically Enhances Immune Responses

The major weaknesses of subunit vaccines are their low immunogenicity and poor efficacy. Adjuvants can help to overcome some of these inherent defects with subunit vaccines. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of the newly developed water-in-oil-in-water multiphase emulsion system, termed PELC, in potentiating the protective capacity of dengue-1 envelope protein domain III. Unlike aluminum phosphate, dengue-1 envelope protein domain III formulated with PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides induced neutralizing antibodies against dengue-1 virus and increased the splenocyte secretion of IFN-γ after in vitro re-stimulation. The induced antibodies contained both the IgG1 and IgG2a subclasses. A rapid anamnestic neutralizing antibody response against a live dengue virus challenge was elicited at week 26 after the first immunization. These results demonstrate that PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides broaden the dengue-1 envelope protein domain III-specific immune responses. PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides is a promising adjuvant for recombinant protein based vaccination against dengue virus

QTL mapping of yield components and kernel traits in wheat cultivars TAM 112 and Duster

In the Southern Great Plains, wheat cultivars have been selected for a combination of outstanding yield and drought tolerance as a long-term breeding goal. To understand the underlying genetic mechanisms, this study aimed to dissect the quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with yield components and kernel traits in two wheat cultivars `TAM 112' and `Duster' under both irrigated and dryland environments. A set of 182 recombined inbred lines (RIL) derived from the cross of TAM 112/Duster were planted in 13 diverse environments for evaluation of 18 yield and kernel related traits. High-density genetic linkage map was constructed using 5,081 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). QTL mapping analysis detected 134 QTL regions on all 21 wheat chromosomes, including 30 pleiotropic QTL regions and 21 consistent QTL regions, with 10 QTL regions in common. Three major pleiotropic QTL on the short arms of chromosomes 2B (57.5 - 61.6 Mbps), 2D (37.1 - 38.7 Mbps), and 7D (66.0 - 69.2 Mbps) colocalized with genes Ppd-B1, Ppd-D1, and FT-D1, respectively. And four consistent QTL associated with kernel length (KLEN), thousand kernel weight (TKW), plot grain yield (YLD), and kernel spike-1 (KPS) (Qklen.tamu.1A.325, Qtkw.tamu.2B.137, Qyld.tamu.2D.3, and Qkps.tamu.6A.113) explained more than 5% of the phenotypic variation. QTL Qklen.tamu.1A.325 is a novel QTL with consistent effects under all tested environments. Marker haplotype analysis indicated the QTL combinations significantly increased yield and kernel traits. QTL and the linked markers identified in this study will facilitate future marker-assisted selection (MAS) for pyramiding the favorable alleles and QTL map-based cloning.Horticulture and Landscape Architectur

The Reform of Employee Compensation in China’s Industrial Enterprises

Although employee compensation reform in Chinese industrial sector has been discussed in the literature, the real changes in compensation system and pay practices have received insufficient attention and warrant further examination. This paper briefly reviews the pre- and post-reform compensation system, and reports the results of a survey of pay practices in the four major types of industrial enterprises in China. The research findings indicate that the type of enterprise ownership has little influence on general compensation practices, adoption of profit-sharing plans, and subsidy and allowance packages. In general, pay is linked more to individual performance and has become an important incentive to Chinese employees. However, differences are found across the enterprise types with regard to performance-related pay. Current pay practices are positively correlated to overall effectiveness of the enterprise

Intracranial V. cholerae Sialidase Protects against Excitotoxic Neurodegeneration

Converging evidence shows that GD3 ganglioside is a critical effector in a number of apoptotic pathways, and GM1 ganglioside has neuroprotective and noötropic properties. Targeted deletion of GD3 synthase (GD3S) eliminates GD3 and increases GM1 levels. Primary neurons from GD3S−/− mice are resistant to neurotoxicity induced by amyloid-β or hyperhomocysteinemia, and when GD3S is eliminated in the APP/PSEN1 double-transgenic model of Alzheimer's disease the plaque-associated oxidative stress and inflammatory response are absent. To date, no small-molecule inhibitor of GD3S exists. In the present study we used sialidase from Vibrio cholerae (VCS) to produce a brain ganglioside profile that approximates that of GD3S deletion. VCS hydrolyzes GD1a and complex b-series gangliosides to GM1, and the apoptogenic GD3 is degraded. VCS was infused by osmotic minipump into the dorsal third ventricle in mice over a 4-week period. Sensorimotor behaviors, anxiety, and cognition were unaffected in VCS-treated mice. To determine whether VCS was neuroprotective in vivo, we injected kainic acid on the 25th day of infusion to induce status epilepticus. Kainic acid induced a robust lesion of the CA3 hippocampal subfield in aCSF-treated controls. In contrast, all hippocampal regions in VCS-treated mice were largely intact. VCS did not protect against seizures. These results demonstrate that strategic degradation of complex gangliosides and GD3 can be used to achieve neuroprotection without adversely affecting behavior

Post-natal cardiomyocytes can generate iPS cells with an enhanced capacity toward cardiomyogenic re-differentation

Adult mammalian cells can be reprogrammed to a pluripotent state by forcing the expression of a few embryonic transcription factors. The resulting induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can differentiate into cells of all three germ layers. It is well known that post-natal cardiomyocytes (CMs) lack the capacity to proliferate. Here, we report that neonatal CMs can be reprogrammed to generate iPS cells that express embryonic-specific markers and feature gene-expression profiles similar to those of mouse embryonic stem (mES) cell and cardiac fibroblast (CF)-derived iPS cell populations. CM-derived iPS cells are able to generate chimeric mice and, moreover, re-differentiate toward CMs more efficiently then either CF-derived iPS cells or mES cells. The increased differentiation capacity is possibly related to CM-derived iPS cells retaining an epigenetic memory of the phenotype of their founder cell. CM-derived iPS cells may thus lead to new information on differentiation processes underlying cardiac differentiation and proliferation

The progressive elevation of alpha fetoprotein for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with liver cirrhosis

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common cause of primary liver neoplasms and is one of the main causes of death in patients with liver cirrhosis. High Alpha fetoprotein serum levels have been found in 60–70% of patients with Hepatocellular carcinoma; nevertheless, there are other causes that increase this protein. Alpha fetoprotein levels ≥200 and 400 ng/mL in patients with an identifiable liver mass by imaging techniques are diagnostic of hepatocellular carcinoma with high specificity. METHODS: We analysed the sensitivity and specificity of the progressive increase of the levels of alpha fetoprotein for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with liver cirrhosis. Seventy-four patients with cirrhosis without hepatocellular carcinoma and 193 with hepatic lesions diagnosed by biopsy and shown by image scans were included. Sensitivity and specificity of transversal determination of alpha fetoprotein ≥ 200 and 400 ng/mL and monthly progressive elevation of alpha fetoprotein were analysed. Areas under the ROC curves were compared. Positive and negative predictive values adjusted to a 5 and 10% prevalence were calculated. RESULTS: For an elevation of alpha fetoprotein ≥ 200 and 400 ng/mL the specificity is of 100% in both cases, with a sensitivity of 36.3 and 20.2%, respectively. For an alpha fetoprotein elevation rate ≥7 ng/mL/month, sensitivity was of 71.4% and specificity of 100%. The area under the ROC curve of the progressive elevation was significantly greater than that of the transversal determination of alpha fetoprotein. The positive and negative predictive values modified to a 10% prevalence are of: 98.8% and 96.92%, respectively; while for a prevalence of 5% they were of 97.4% and 98.52%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The progressive elevation of alpha fetoprotein ≥7 ng/mL/month in patients with liver cirrhosis is useful for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients that do not reach αFP levels ≥200 ng/mL. Prospective studies are required to confirm this observation

The effect of parental rearing conditions on offspring life history in Anopheles stephensi

Background The environmental conditions experienced by parents are increasingly recognized to impact the success of offspring. Little is known on the presence of such parental effects in Anopheles. If present, parental effects could influence mosquito breeding programmes, some malaria control measures and have epidemiological and evolutionary consequences. Methods The presence of parental effects on offspring emergence time, size, survival, blood meal size and fecundity in laboratory reared An. stephensi were tested. Results Parental rearing conditions did not influence the time taken for offspring to emerge, or their size or survival as adults. However, parental effects were influential in determining the fecundity of daughters. Counter-intuitively, daughters of parents reared in low food conditions produced larger egg clutches than daughters of parents reared in high food conditions. Offspring reared in low food conditions took larger blood meals if their parents had also experienced a low food environment. Conclusion So far as we are aware, this is the first evidence of parental effects on progeny in Anophele