Analysis of aroma compounds and nutrient contents of mabolo (Diospyros blancoi A. DC.), an ethnobotanical fruit of Austronesian Taiwan

AbstractDiospyros blancoi A. DC. is an evergreen tree species of high-quality wood. Mabolo, the fruit of this plant, is popular among the natives in Taiwan, but its potential in economic use has not been fully explored. Mabolo has a rich aroma. Of the 39 different volatile compounds isolated, its intact fruit and peel were found to both contain 24 compounds, whereas the pulp contained 28 compounds. The most important aroma compounds were esters and α-farnesene. Our data show that mabolo is rich in dietary fiber (3.2%), and the contents of other nutrients such as malic acid, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, folic acid, pantothenic acid, and choline chloride were 227.1 mg/100 g, 0.075 mg/100 g, 0.157 mg/100 g, 0.623 mg/100 g, 0.19 mg/100 g, and 62.52 mg/100 g, respectively. Moreover, it is rich in calcium and zinc; the contents of which were found to be 42.8 mg/100 g and 3.6 mg/100 g, respectively. Our results show that D. blancoi has the potential to be bred for a novel fruit

Gene therapy of hypoparathyroidism with TheraCyte-encapsulated stem cells

The parathyroid hormone (PTH) (1-34) gene was inserted into a pcDNA3 promoter and E. coli competent cells were used to amplify the cDNA. C3H/10T1/2 stem cells were transfected with PTH (1-34) cDNA using Lipofectamine reagents. After G418 treatment live cells at a density of 4x107 were loaded onto a TheraCyte unit. After parathyroidectomy, rats were either the implanted with 4x107 TheraCyte-encapsulated cells (group A), subcutaneously injected with 4x107 live cells containing PTH (1-34) cDNA (group B) or injected with nothing (group C).Serum levels of calcium, phosphorus and PTH (1-34) were measured at baseline, 1 month, 2 months, 3 months and 4 months after therapy. Immunohistochemical staining and RT-PCR were performed to find PTH (1-34)-positive cells and to detect PTH (1-34) mRNA.Serum calcium and PTH (1-34) levels were significantly higher in group A than in group B or C. PTH (1-34)-positive cells were found in the TheraCyte group 4 months after implantation. PTH (1-34) mRNA was detected in stem cells 48 hr after transfection and also in stem cells after transfection and 72 hr after G418 treatment.Implantation of the TheraCyte-encapsulated stem cells, which were tranfected with PTH (1-34) cDNA can treat hypoparathyroidism

Increasing CD44+/CD24- tumor stem cells, and upregulation of COX-2 and HDAC6, as major functions of HER2 in breast tumorigenesis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cancer cells are believed to arise primarily from stem cells. CD44⁺/CD24^-have been identified as markers for human breast cancer stem cells. Although, HER2 is a well known breast cancer oncogene, the mechanisms of action of this gene are not completely understood. Previously, we have derived immortal (M13SV1), weakly tumorigenic (M13SV1R2) and highly tumorigenic (M13SV1R2N1) cell lines from a breast epithelial cell type with stem cell phenotypes after successive SV40 large T-antigen transfection, X-ray irradiation and ectopic expression of HER2/C-erbB2/neu. Recently, we found that M13SV1R2 cells became non-tumorigenic after growing in a growth factor/hormone-deprived medium (R2d cells).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we developed M13SV1R2N1 under the same growth factor/hormone-deprived condition (R2N1d cells). This provides an opportunity to analyze HER2 effect on gene expression associated with tumorigenesis by comparative study of R2d and R2N1d cells with homogeneous genetic background except HER2 expression. The results reveal distinct characters of R2N1d cells that can be ascribed to HER2: 1) development of fast-growing tumors; 2) high frequency of CD44⁺/CD24^-cells (~50% for R2N1d vs. ~10% for R2d); 3) enhanced expression of COX-2, HDAC6 mediated, respectively, by MAPK and PI3K/Akt pathways, and many genes associated with inflammation, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Furthermore, HER2 expression can be down regulated in non-adhering R2N1d cells. These cells showed longer latent period and lower rate of tumor development compared with adhering cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HER2 may induce breast cancer by increasing the frequency of tumor stem cells and upregulating the expression of COX-2 and HDAC6 that play pivotal roles in tumor progression.</p

Plasmonic Structure Enhanced Exciton Generation at the Interface between the Perovskite Absorber and Copper Nanoparticles

The refractive index and extinction coefficient of a triiodide perovskite absorber (TPA) were obtained by fitting the transmittance spectra of TPA/PEDOT:PSS/ITO/glass using the transfer matrix method. Cu nanoplasmonic structures were designed to enhance the exciton generation in the TPA and to simultaneously reduce the film thickness of the TPA. Excitons were effectively generated at the interface between TPA and Cu nanoparticles, as observed through the 3D finite-difference time-domain method. The exciton distribution is advantageous for the exciton dissociation and carrier transport

Chinese Herbal Medicine as an Adjunctive Therapy Ameliorated the Incidence of Chronic Hepatitis in Patients with Breast Cancer: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

We conducted a National Health Insurance Research Database-based Taiwanese nationwide population-based cohort study to evaluate whether Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) treatment decreased the incidence of chronic hepatitis in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. A total of 81171 patients were diagnosed with breast cancer within the defined study period. After randomly equal matching, data from 13856 patients were analyzed. Hazard ratios of incidence rate of chronic hepatitis were used to determine the influence and therapeutic potential of CHM in patients with breast cancer. The patients with breast cancer receiving CHM treatment exhibited a significantly decreased incidence rate of chronic hepatitis even across the stratification of age, CCI score, and treatments. The cumulative incidence of chronic hepatitis for a period of seven years after initial breast cancer diagnosis was also reduced in the patients receiving CHM treatment. The ten most commonly used single herbs and formulas were effective in protecting liver function in patients with breast cancer, where Hedyotis diffusa and Jia-Wei-Xiao-Yao-San were the most commonly used herbal agents. In conclusion, our study provided information that western medicine therapy combined with CHM as an adjuvant modality may have a significant impact on liver protection in patients with breast cancer

Simultaneous Penile Gangrene and Testicular Infarction Secondary to Calciphylaxis in a Uremic Patient

We report here a 46-year-old man with end stage renal disease (ESRD) secondary to type 2 diabetes, who had been on hemodialysis for 5 years. He had a painful glans lesion for 1 week. Five days later, he also complained of right testicular pain. Computed tomography of the pelvis demonstrated calcification of both penile arteries. Scrotal sonography revealed right testicular infarction. He received partial penectomy and right orchiectomy because of progressive lesions and intractable pain. Pathologic examination revealed testicular and penile tissue with necrotizing inflammation accompanied by multifocal calcification in the tunica media, compatible with calciphylaxis. This is the first report to document simultaneous penile gangrene and testicular infarction secondary to calciphylaxis

POINeT: protein interactome with sub-network analysis and hub prioritization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are critical to every aspect of biological processes. Expansion of all PPIs from a set of given queries often results in a complex PPI network lacking spatiotemporal consideration. Moreover, the reliability of available PPI resources, which consist of low- and high-throughput data, for network construction remains a significant challenge. Even though a number of software tools are available to facilitate PPI network analysis, an integrated tool is crucial to alleviate the burden on querying across multiple web servers and software tools.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We have constructed an integrated web service, POINeT, to simplify the process of PPI searching, analysis, and visualization. POINeT merges PPI and tissue-specific expression data from multiple resources. The tissue-specific PPIs and the numbers of research papers supporting the PPIs can be filtered with user-adjustable threshold values and are dynamically updated in the viewer. The network constructed in POINeT can be readily analyzed with, for example, the built-in centrality calculation module and an integrated network viewer. Nodes in global networks can also be ranked and filtered using various network analysis formulas, i.e., centralities. To prioritize the sub-network, we developed a ranking filtered method (S3) to uncover potential novel mediators in the midbody network. Several examples are provided to illustrate the functionality of POINeT. The network constructed from four schizophrenia risk markers suggests that EXOC4 might be a novel marker for this disease. Finally, a liver-specific PPI network has been filtered with adult and fetal liver expression profiles.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The functionalities provided by POINeT are highly improved compared to previous version of POINT. POINeT enables the identification and ranking of potential novel genes involved in a sub-network. Combining with tissue-specific gene expression profiles, PPIs specific to selected tissues can be revealed. The straightforward interface of POINeT makes PPI search and analysis just a few clicks away. The modular design permits further functional enhancement without hampering the simplicity. POINeT is available at <url>http://poinet.bioinformatics.tw/</url>.</p

Spectral function of the electron in a superconducting RVB state

We present a model calculation of the spectral function of an electron in a superconducting resonating valence bond (RVB) state. The RVB state, described by the phase-string mean field theory is characterized by three important features: (i) spin-charge separation, (ii) short range antiferromagnetic correlations, and (iii) holon condensation. The results of our calculation are in good agreement with data obtained from Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) in superconducting Bi 2212 at optimal doping concentration.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure