Metabolism and Excretion Study of Daphnoretin in Rats after Oral Administration

The metabolism and excretion profile in rats were investigated after a single dose of daphnoretin. Metabolites of daphnoretin in rats were characterized by HPLC-MS n analysis. A HPLC-UV method was developed to determine the concentration of daphnoretin in rat urine, feces and bile. Daphnoretin was biotransformed via conjunctive and oxidative pathways to three detected metabolites. The structures of these metabolites were tentatively identified. The cumulative excretion percentage of daphnoretin in urine, feces and bile of rats was 0.13, 52.7, and 0.018 %, respectively. All the metabolites and excretion data are reported for the first time.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Metabolism and Excretion Study of Daphnoretin in Rats after Oral Administration

The metabolism and excretion profile in rats were investigated after a single dose of daphnoretin. Metabolites of daphnoretin in rats were characterized by HPLC-MS n analysis. A HPLC-UV method was developed to determine the concentration of daphnoretin in rat urine, feces and bile. Daphnoretin was biotransformed via conjunctive and oxidative pathways to three detected metabolites. The structures of these metabolites were tentatively identified. The cumulative excretion percentage of daphnoretin in urine, feces and bile of rats was 0.13, 52.7, and 0.018 %, respectively. All the metabolites and excretion data are reported for the first time.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Activin A and BMP4 Signaling Expands Potency of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells in Serum-Free Media.

Inhibitors of Mek1/2 and Gsk3β, known as 2i, and, together with leukemia inhibitory factor, enhance the derivation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and promote ground-state pluripotency (2i/L-ESCs). However, recent reports show that prolonged Mek1/2 suppression impairs developmental potential of ESCs, and is rescued by serum (S/L-ESCs). Here, we show that culturing ESCs in Activin A and BMP4, and in the absence of MEK1/2 inhibitor (ABC/L medium), establishes advanced stem cells derived from ESCs (esASCs). We demonstrate that esASCs contributed to germline lineages, full-term chimeras and generated esASC-derived mice by tetraploid complementation. We show that, in contrast to 2i/L-ESCs, esASCs display distinct molecular signatures and a stable hypermethylated epigenome, which is reversible and similar to serum-cultured ESCs. Importantly, we also derived novel ASCs (blASCs) from blastocysts in ABC/L medium. Our results provide insights into the derivation of novel ESCs with DNA hypermethylation from blastocysts in chemically defined medium

Examining human heat stress with remote sensing technology

Heat stress as an environmental hazard which can seriously affect productivity, health, or even survival of individuals has long been studied. Despite the endeavors that have been made to address the issue quantitatively with various heat stress indices, they are often measured at scatter sites. This research devotes to revealing human heat stress within continuous space with remote sensing technology. The study began with the retrieval of dry-bulb temperature from land surface temperature (LST) with empirical models. As wet-bulb temperature was calculated from dry-bulb temperature and relative humidity, discomfort index (DI) as an indicator of heat stress was revealed for the study area at 1 km spatial resolution for three summer days. Results indicated that DI can be derived within continuous space with remotely sensed data, and its spatial distribution can be dramatically affected by relative humidity. Further comparison between DI and LST indicated that LST as a widely utilized indicator of surface thermal condition fails to address human heat stress as environmental factors such as relative humidity are not taken into account

Detailed Urban Land Use Land Cover Classification at the Metropolitan Scale Using a Three-Layer Classification Scheme

Urban Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) information is essential for urban and environmental management. It is, however, very difficult to automatically extract detailed urban LULC information from remote sensing imagery, especially for a large urban area. Medium resolution imagery, such as Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data, cannot uncover detailed LULC information. Further, very high resolution (VHR) satellite imagery, such as IKONOS and QuickBird data, can only be applied to a small area, largely due to the data unavailability and high computation cost. As a result, little research has been conducted to extract detailed urban LULC information for a large urban area. This study, therefore, developed a three-layer classification scheme for deriving detailedurban LULC information by integrating newly launched Chinese GF-1 (medium resolution) and GF-2 (very high resolution) satellite imagery and synthetically incorporating geometry, texture, and spectral information through multi-resolution image segmentation and object-based image classification (OBIA). Homogeneous urban LULC types such as water bodies or large areas of vegetation could be derived from GF-1 imagery with 16 m and 8 m spatial resolutions, while heterogeneous urban LULC types such as industrial buildings, residential buildings, and roads could be extracted from GF-2 imagery with 3.2 m and 0.8 m spatial resolutions. The multi-resolution segmentation method and a random forest algorithm were employed to perform image segmentation and object-based image classification, respectively. An analysis of the results suggests an overall accuracy of 0.89 and 0.87 were achieved for the second and third level urban LULC classification maps, respectively. Therefore, the three-layer classification scheme has the potential to derive high accuracy urban LULC information through integrating medium and high-resolution remote sensing imagery

Activin A and BMP4 Signaling Expands Potency of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells in Serum-Free Media.

Inhibitors of Mek1/2 and Gsk3β, known as 2i, and, together with leukemia inhibitory factor, enhance the derivation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and promote ground-state pluripotency (2i/L-ESCs). However, recent reports show that prolonged Mek1/2 suppression impairs developmental potential of ESCs, and is rescued by serum (S/L-ESCs). Here, we show that culturing ESCs in Activin A and BMP4, and in the absence of MEK1/2 inhibitor (ABC/L medium), establishes advanced stem cells derived from ESCs (esASCs). We demonstrate that esASCs contributed to germline lineages, full-term chimeras and generated esASC-derived mice by tetraploid complementation. We show that, in contrast to 2i/L-ESCs, esASCs display distinct molecular signatures and a stable hypermethylated epigenome, which is reversible and similar to serum-cultured ESCs. Importantly, we also derived novel ASCs (blASCs) from blastocysts in ABC/L medium. Our results provide insights into the derivation of novel ESCs with DNA hypermethylation from blastocysts in chemically defined medium

Intracellular ATP concentration contributes to the cytotoxic and cytoprotective effects of adenosine.

Extracellular adenosine (ADE) interacts with cells by two pathways: by activating cell surface receptors at nanomolar/micromolar concentrations; and by interfering with the homeostasis of the intracellular nucleotide pool at millimolar concentrations. Ade shows both cytotoxic and cytoprotective effects; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, the effects of adenosine-mediated ATP on cell viability were investigated. Adenosine treatment was found to be cytoprotective in the low intracellular ATP state, but cytotoxic under the normal ATP state. Adenosine-mediated cytotoxicity and cytoprotection rely on adenosine-derived ATP formation, but not via the adenosine receptor pathway. Ade enhanced proteasome inhibition-induced cell death mediated by ATP generation. These data provide a new pathway by which adenosine exerts dual biological effects on cell viability, suggesting an important role for adenosine as an ATP precursor besides the adenosine receptor pathway