Genetic variations of the porcine PRKAG3 gene in Chinese indigenous pig breeds

Four missense substitutions (T30N, G52S, V199I and R200Q) in the porcine PRKAG3 gene were considered as the likely candidate loci affecting meat quality. In this study, the R200Q substitution was investigated in a sample of 62 individuals from Hampshire, Chinese Min and Erhualian pigs, and the genetic variations of T30N, G52S and V199I substitutions were detected in 1505 individuals from 21 Chinese indigenous breeds, 5 Western commercial pig breeds, and the wild pig. Allele 200R was fixed in Chinese Min and Erhualian pigs. Haplotypes II-QQ and IV-QQ were not observed in the Hampshire population, supporting the hypothesis that allele 200Q is tightly linked with allele 199V. Significant differences in allele frequencies of the three substitutions (T30N, G52S and V199I) between Chinese indigenous pigs and Western commercial pigs were observed. Obvious high frequencies of the "favorable" alleles 30T and 52G in terms of meat quality were detected in Chinese indigenous pigs, which are well known for high meat quality. However, the frequency of the "favorable" allele 199I, which was reported to have a greater effect on meat quality in comparison with 30T and 52G, was very low in all of the Chinese indigenous pigs except for the Min pig. The reasons accounting for this discrepancy remain to be addressed. The presence of the three substitutions in purebred Chinese Tibetan pigs indicates that the three substitutions were ancestral mutations. A novel A/G substitution at position 51 in exon 1 was identified. The results suggest that further studies are required to investigate the associations of these substitutions in the PRKAG3 gene with meat quality of Chinese indigenous pigs, and to uncover other polymorphisms in the PRKAG3 gene with potential effects on meat quality in Chinese indigenous pigs

Stunting and soil-transmitted-helminth infections among school-age pupils in rural areas of southern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stunting and soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections including ascariasis, trichuriasis and hookworm remain major public health problems in school-age pupils in developing countries. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of stunting for children and its association with three major soil-transmitted helminths (STH) in rural areas of southern China. The study also aims to determine risk factors for stunting and to provide guidance on the prevention and control of stunting and STH infections for future studies in this field.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A cross-sectional survey was carried out in the poor rural areas in Guangxi Autonomous Regional and Hainan Province where STH prevalence was higher between September and November 2009. Pupils were from 15 primary schools. All the school-age pupils aged between 9 and 12 years old (mean age 11.2 ± 3.2 years), from grades three to six took part in this study. Study contents include questionnaire surveys, physical examination and laboratory methods (stool checking for eggs of three major STH infections and haemoglobin determination was performed for the anaemia test). Finally 1031 school-age pupils took part in survey. The results showed that the overall prevalence of stunting (HAZ < 2SD) was 25.6%, based on the WHO Child Growth Standards (2007). Risk factors for stunting based on logistic regression analyses were: (1) STH moderate-to-heavy intensity infections (OR = 1.93;95%CI:1.19,3.11); (2) anaemia (OR = 3.26;95%CI: 2.02,5.27); (3) education level of mother (OR = 2.13; 95%CI: 1.39,3.25). The overall prevalence of major STH infections was 36.7%, STH moderate-to-heavy intensity infections was 16.7%. The overall prevalence of ascariasis, trichuriasis, hookworm and co-infection were 18.5%, 11.2%, 14.7% and 9.1% respectively. The prevalence of anaemic children (HB < 12 g/dl) was 13.1%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present study showed that stunting was highly prevalent among the study population and STH infection is one of the important risk factors for stunting, with moderate-to-heavy intensity infections being the main predictor of stunting. Hence, additional interventions measures such as to promote de-worming treatment, to enhance health education and to improve hygiene and sanitation in order to reduce stunting in this population, are needed throughout the primary school age group.</p

Integrated application of uniform design and least-squares support vector machines to transfection optimization

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Transfection in mammalian cells based on liposome presents great challenge for biological professionals. To protect themselves from exogenous insults, mammalian cells tend to manifest poor transfection efficiency. In order to gain high efficiency, we have to optimize several conditions of transfection, such as amount of liposome, amount of plasmid, and cell density at transfection. However, this process may be time-consuming and energy-consuming. Fortunately, several mathematical methods, developed in the past decades, may facilitate the resolution of this issue. This study investigates the possibility of optimizing transfection efficiency by using a method referred to as least-squares support vector machine, which requires only a few experiments and maintains fairly high accuracy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A protocol consists of 15 experiments was performed according to the principle of uniform design. In this protocol, amount of liposome, amount of plasmid, and the number of seeded cells 24 h before transfection were set as independent variables and transfection efficiency was set as dependent variable. A model was deduced from independent variables and their respective dependent variable. Another protocol made up by 10 experiments was performed to test the accuracy of the model. The model manifested a high accuracy. Compared to traditional method, the integrated application of uniform design and least-squares support vector machine greatly reduced the number of required experiments. What's more, higher transfection efficiency was achieved.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The integrated application of uniform design and least-squares support vector machine is a simple technique for obtaining high transfection efficiency. Using this novel method, the number of required experiments would be greatly cut down while higher efficiency would be gained. Least-squares support vector machine may be applicable to many other problems that need to be optimized.</p

Central obesity and atherogenic dyslipidemia in metabolic syndrome are associated with increased risk for colorectal adenoma in a Chinese population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is composed of cardiovascular risk factors including insulin resistance, obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. Most of the components of MetS have been linked to the development of neoplasm. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between individual components of MetS and colorectal adenoma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study subjects were recruited from a pool of 4872 individuals who underwent a health check-up examination during the period January 2006 to May 2008. Each participant fulfilled a structured questionnaire. MetS was defined based on the America Heart Association and National Heart Lung Blood Institute criteria. Subjects with history of colon cancer, colon polyps, colitis, or prior colonic surgery were excluded.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 4122 subjects were included for final analysis (2367 men and 1755 women; mean age, 49.6 ± 11.7 years). Of them, MetS was diagnosed in 708 men (29.9%) and in 367 women (20.9%). Among the patients with MetS, 34.6% had adenoma, 31.7% had hyperplastic polyps and 23.3% were polyp-free (p < 0.0001, Chi-square test). The adjusted OR for colorectal adenoma was significantly higher in the subjects with MetS (OR, 1.31, CI: 1.09-1.57). A stronger association between MetS and colorectal adenoma was found in men (OR:1.44, CI:1.16-1.80) than in women (OR:1.04, CI:0.74-1.46). The adjusted OR for adenoma increased as the number of MetS components increased (p for trend = 0.0001 ). When the individual components of MetS were analyzed separately, only central obesity (OR:1.36, CI:1.14-1.63), low HDL cholesterol levels (OR:1.30, CI:1.10-1.54) and high triglyceride levels (OR:1.26, CI:1.04-1.53) were independently associated with colorectal adenoma.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Of the components of MetS analyzed in this study, central obesity and dyslipidemia are independent risk factors for colorectal adenoma. With regard to the prevention of colorectal neoplasm, life-style modification such as weight reduction is worthwhile.</p

Propofol Inhibits Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Tumor Necrosis Factor-Alpha Expression and Myocardial Depression through Decreasing the Generation of Superoxide Anion in Cardiomyocytes

TNF-α has been shown to be a major factor responsible for myocardial depression in sepsis. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of an anesthetic, propofol, on TNF-α expression in cardiomyocytes treated with LPS both in vivo and in vitro. In cultured cardiomyocytes, compared with control group, propofol significantly reduced protein expression of gp91phox and phosphorylation of extracellular regulated protein kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) and p38 MAPK, which associates with reduced TNF-α production. In in vivo mice studies, propofol significantly improved myocardial depression and increased survival rate of mice after LPS treatment or during endotoxemia, which associates with reduced myocardial TNF-α production, gp91phox, ERK1/2, and p38 MAPK. It is concluded that propofol abrogates LPS-induced TNF-α production and alleviates cardiac depression through gp91phox/ERK1/2 or p38 MAPK signal pathway. These findings have great clinical importance in the application of propofol for patients enduring sepsis

以生物多樣性指標評估集水區崩塌地治理優選順序

The abundance of endemic species in Taiwan is a great natural treasure accomplished by a diverse altitude ranges due to violent tectonic activities and humid tropical weather conditions with ocean surrounded. With the characteristics of few flatlands, the slope lands are inevitable and have been developed for economic and social requirement gradually, which has caused habitation shrinking of animal and plant. Furthermore, Taiwan also suffers disasters such as striking of torrential rains and typhoons during summer season annually, and is vulnerable to landslide because of fragile geology which threats to the living things. Thus, to enhance the efficiency of vegetation recovery in landslide area can benefit the habitats of species. Typhoon Morakot induced landslides and vegetation recovery rate in Kao-Ping watershed can be quickly extracted and/or derived from the satellite images in this study. The biodiversity index established in the database of the watershed can then be applied to assess the treatment priority of landslides. The result shows that the highest landslide rate in Chi-Shan and Lao-Nong watersheds are Xiao-Lin and Ching-Shui Xi sub-watersheds respectively. For vegetation recovery rate, the downstream area is higher than upstream area. For treatment priority, the top 10 of sub-watersheds almost distribute in Lao-Nong watershed. It hopes that the result could provide the related authorities as the references of environmental restoration.台灣雖位處北回歸線，但因造山運動拱起4,000 公尺海拔落差，使台灣物種跨越熱帶、溫帶及寒帶，且四面環海及高溫多雨之島嶼氣候，孕育出許多台灣特有種生物，然台灣因高山多、平地少，在高人口密度下，居民為了生活不得不開發山坡地之原始森林，此舉壓縮了動、植物之生存空間，此外，台灣山高且地質破碎，夏季之暴雨或颱風易造成大規模之崩塌，除對當地居民造成威脅外，亦影響其他物種之生存環境，為此，如何加速崩塌地之植生復育，將有助於恢復各物種之棲地。本研究以莫拉克風災為事件，利用該事件前後期之衛星影像萃取集水區崩塌區位，另計算災後集水區植生復育良窳之熱點區位，最後以生物多樣性指數配合崩塌率及植生復育率評估集水區崩塌地治理之優選順序。研究結果顯示，旗山溪及荖濃溪集水區中崩塌率最高之子集水區分別為小林及清水溪；植生復育率則為下游高於上游區位；整體崩塌地治理優先順序中，得分最高之前10 處主要分布於荖濃溪集水區。期本研究之結果可作為相關生態保育單位於環境復育之參考

Total Phenolic Contents and Antioxidant Capacities of Selected Chinese Medicinal Plants

Antioxidant capacities of 56 selected Chinese medicinal plants were evaluated using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays, and their total phenolic content was measured by the Folin-Ciocalteu method. The strong correlation between TEAC value and FRAP value suggested that the antioxidants in these plants possess free radical scavenging activity and oxidant reducing power, and the high positive correlation between antioxidant capacities and total phenolic content implied that phenolic compounds are a major contributor to the antioxidant activity of these plants. The results showed that Dioscorea bulbifera, Eriobotrya japonica, Tussilago farfara and Ephedra sinica could be potential rich sources of natural antioxidants

Electrocatalytic oxidation of ethanol on Pt/nanoTiO(2)-CNT complex catalysts

Pt/nanoTiO(2)-CNT complex catalysts were prepared by direct hydrolysis of Ti(OEt)(4) and electrochemical scan electrodepositing method. The results of XRD and SEM showed that the nanoTiO(2) (anatase) and Pt nanoparticles (size about 5 similar to 10 nm) were dispersed uniformly on CNT film surface. The electrocatalytic activity of Pt/nanoTiO(2)-CNT electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and chronopotentiogram. The results indicated that Pt/nanoTiO(2)- CNT electrode (Pt loading was 0.32 mg . cm(-2)) exhibited high electrochemical activity surface area (51.8 m2. g(-1)) and very high electrocatalytic activity and stability for the electro-oxidation of ethanol at room temperature in atmosphere pressure. The oxidation peak potentials of ethanol were 0.59, 0.96, and 0.24 V, and the corresponding oxidation peak current sdensities were - 115, -113, and -75 mA . cm(-2). The high electrocatalytic activity and good stability can be attributed to the synergistic catalytic effect among nanocomposite

RNA aptamers that functionally interact with green fluorescent protein and its derivatives

Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and related fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been widely used to tag proteins, allowing their expression and subcellular localization to be examined in real time in living cells and animals. Similar fluorescent methods are highly desirable to detect and track RNA and other biological molecules in living cells. For this purpose, we have developed a group of RNA aptamers that bind GFP and related proteins, which we term Fluorescent Protein-Binding Aptamers (FPBA). These aptamers bind GFP, YFP and CFP with low nanomolar affinity and binding decreases GFP fluorescence, whereas slightly augmenting YFP and CFP brightness. Aptamer binding results in an increase in the pKa of EGFP, decreasing the 475 nm excited green fluorescence at a given pH. We report the secondary structure of FPBA and the ability to synthesize functional multivalent dendrimers. FPBA expressed in live cells decreased GFP fluorescence in a valency-dependent manner, indicating that the RNA aptamers function within cells. The development of aptamers that bind fluorescent proteins with high affinity and alter their function, markedly expands their use in the study of biological pathways

Glow discharge growth of SnO2 nano-needles from SnH4

Single crystalline SnO2 nano-needles with length up to 6-7 mum and diameter less than 300 nm are synthesized on an Au-coating porous silicon substrate from SnH4 source via a glow discharge process