Physiological and immunoblot analyses of a nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-like protein of pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Nitric oxide (NO) functions as a signal molecule in different biological processes in plants, including disease resistance. Its production is related to nitric oxide synthase (NOS). The application of chemicals that induce systemic resistance in plants did not induce NOS activity in pea, suggesting that NO functions upstream of salicylic acid (SA) in the signaling pathway of defense responses in plants. NOS activity was induced in both the incompatible and compatible interactions of pea with Ralstonia solanacearum and Pseudomonas syringae pv pisi, respectively, between 3 h to 6 h post-infiltration, indicating that NOS was involved in both resistance and disease development responses in pea. Antibodies raised against mammalian NOS did not have specificity in detecting a NOS-like protein in pea, suggesting that the pea NOS-like protein could be structurally different from mammalian NOS, and immunodetection of a plant NOS-like protein must be conducted with caution and verified with functional assays

Forgotten stone in a ureteral stump increased the risk of an ureterocutaneous fistula

AbstractHere we report a female patient with diabetes who underwent right nephrectomy 18 years ago for pyonephrosis and renal stone formation. Before she was performed the right nephrectomy, a ureteral calculus impacted in the right ureteral stump was diagnosed. However, after 18 years, a right ureterocutaneous fistula was diagnosed, and the calculus was still found in the ureteral stump of the patient. As a result, a fistula caused by the ureter-impacted calculus was highly suspected. We successfully performed a right ureterectomy, fistulectomy, and debridement on the patient. From our experience in this case, we strongly recommend that a calculus impacted in the ureteral stump should be removed to prevent the occurrence of postoperative complications such as ureterocutaneous fistula

Isolation and characterization of a nitric oxide synthase (NOS)-like protein of pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity based on citrulline formation assay, which was used in mammalian system, was detected in Pisum Sativum L. (pea) extracts. The pea NOS-like protein was most efficiently extracted with the addition of protease inhibitors (ethylene bis (oxyethylenenitrilo)tetraacetic acid (EGTA) and leupeptin) in the extraction buffer and under alkaline condition (pH 8.5–9.0) as compared to neutral condition in mammalian system. The precipitation of this protein with various concentrations of ammonium sulfate, sodium citrate and sodium chloride caused rapid loss of NOS activity, in contrast to that in the mammalian system, and the protein was not precipitated by organic solvents (acetone or polyethylene glycol, PEG). The pea NOS-like protein was successfully isolated using ion-exchange column, but did not bind to β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) and calmodulin affinity columns suggesting that it lacked binding sites for the cofactors NADPH and calmodulin that were required for NOS activity in mammalian cells. The results indicated that the pea NOS like protein was significantly different in structure from mammalian NOS

Evodiamine Induces Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid-1-Mediated Protective Autophagy in U87-MG Astrocytes

Cerebral ischemia is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, which results in cognitive and motor dysfunction, neurodegenerative diseases, and death. Evodiamine (Evo) is extracted from Evodia rutaecarpa Bentham, a plant widely used in Chinese herbal medicine, which possesses variable biological abilities, such as anticancer, anti-inflammation, antiobesity, anti-Alzheimer’s disease, antimetastatic, antianoxic, and antinociceptive functions. But the effect of Evo on ischemic stroke is unclear. Increasing data suggest that activation of autophagy, an adaptive response to environmental stresses, could protect neurons from ischemia-induced cell death. In this study, we found that Evo induced autophagy in U87-MG astrocytes. A scavenger of extracellular calcium and an antagonist of transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV-1) decreased the percentage of autophagy accompanied by an increase in apoptosis, suggesting that Evo may induce calcium-mediated protective autophagy resulting from an influx of extracellular calcium. The same phenomena were also confirmed by a small interfering RNA technique to knock down the expression of TRPV1. Finally, Evo-induced c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK) activation was reduced by a TRPV1 antagonist, indicating that Evo-induced autophagy may occur through a calcium/c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway. Collectively, Evo induced an influx of extracellular calcium, which led to JNK-mediated protective autophagy, and this provides a new option for ischemic stroke treatment

Computationally Improved Optimal Control Methodology for Linear Programming Problems of Flexible Manufacturing Systems

Deadlock prevention policies are used to solve the deadlock problems of FMSs. It is well known that the theory of regions is the efficient method for obtaining optimal (i.e., maximally permissive) controllers. All legal and live maximal behaviors of Petri net models can be preserved by using marking/transition-separation instances (MTSIs) or event-state-separation-problem (ESSP) methods. However, they encountered great difficulties in solving all sets of inequalities that is an extremely time consuming problem. Moreover, the number of linear programming problems (LPPs) of legal markings is also exponential with net size when a plant net grows exponentially. This paper proposes a novel methodology to reduce the number of MTSIs/ESSPs and LPPs. In this paper, we used the well-known reduction approach Murata (1989) to simply the construct of system such that the problem of LPPs can then be reduced. Additionally, critical ones of crucial marking/transition-separation instances (COCMTSI) are developed and used in our deadlock prevention policy that allows designers to employ few MTSIs to deal with deadlocks. Experimental results indicate that the computational cost can be reduced. To our knowledge, this deadlock prevention policy is the most efficient policy to obtain maximal permissive behavior of Petri net models than past approaches

Nitric oxide synthase-like protein in pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Nitric oxide synthase activity was detected in pea (Pisum sativum L.) leaf extracts using a citrulline formation assay that is typically employed in mammalian systems. A total protein extraction method was modified from that used in mammalian systems based on biochemical activities such as the use of protease inhibitors, pH, and precipitation with salts and organic solvents. Physiological aspects in plants, such as effects of chemicals that induce systemic resistance to NOS activity and immunodetection of an NOS-like protein, were also studied. The NOS-like protein was partially isolated using liquid chromatography and characterized based on mammalian NOS inhibitor and cofactor requirements. Correlation of NOS activity and NOS-like gene expression during incompatible and compatible pea–bacteria interactions were investigated using interactions of Ralstonia solanacearum and Pseudomonas syringae pv. pisi, respectively, with pea. NOS activity was detected using citrulline formation assay. Gene expression was measured using real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reactions and a 348-bp probe designed from a cloned cDNA fragment of pea that was homologous to NOS of snail and AtNOS1/AtNOA1 of Arabidopsis. The possibility of NO production from various sources in cells of pea is also discussed

Impact Analysis of Earthquake-Induced Cracks in Deep Geological Repositories for Nuclear Waste Fuel

Based on the concept of deep geologic repositories, high-level radioactive waste will be stored in deep deposition holes away from the ground surface. The heat generated by the waste will induce both significant stress increments and ground water seepage in a multiple geologic barrier system. The long-term ability of a barrier system is significantly impacted by coupling between the thermal, hydrological, and mechanical processes. The stability of a system may also depend particularly upon unanticipated factors such as the development of post-earthquake macrocracks. Therefore, this study investigates the three-dimensional transient and long term thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of a barrier system. The results can be used for future reference in practical engineering design.高放射性用過核燃料所產生之長期衰變熱會對生物圈造成極大衝擊，目前國際上多傾向以深層地質處置作為最終處置之方式。處置過程中，極可能因為地震或地層變動等不可預期之因素，在天然障壁中產生大形裂縫，由此伴隨的災損效應將會加速障壁之劣化。本研究依據我國深層地質處置的初步設計概念，針對天然障壁系統長期之熱-水力-力學耦合效應，利用依序耦合分析方法，考慮不同的裂縫尺寸，針對其可能引致之熱應力與地下水影響進行評估

A delta-doped quantum well system with additional modulation doping

A delta-doped quantum well with additional modulation doping may have potential applications. Utilizing such a hybrid system, it is possible to experimentally realize an extremely high two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) density without suffering inter-electronic-subband scattering. In this article, the authors report on transport measurements on a delta-doped quantum well system with extra modulation doping. We have observed a 0-10 direct insulator-quantum Hall (I-QH) transition where the numbers 0 and 10 correspond to the insulator and Landau level filling factor ν = 10 QH state, respectively. In situ titled-magnetic field measurements reveal that the observed direct I-QH transition depends on the magnetic component perpendicular to the quantum well, and the electron system within this structure is 2D in nature. Furthermore, transport measurements on the 2DEG of this study show that carrier density, resistance and mobility are approximately temperature (T)-independent over a wide range of T. Such results could be an advantage for applications in T-insensitive devices

On the direct insulator-quantum Hall transition in two-dimensional electron systems in the vicinity of nanoscaled scatterers.

A direct insulator-quantum Hall (I-QH) transition corresponds to a crossover/transition from the insulating regime to a high Landau level filling factor ν > 2 QH state. Such a transition has been attracting a great deal of both experimental and theoretical interests. In this study, we present three different two-dimensional electron systems (2DESs) which are in the vicinity of nanoscaled scatterers. All these three devices exhibit a direct I-QH transition, and the transport properties under different nanaoscaled scatterers are discussed.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are