A survey on health-promoting lifestyle among community-dwelling older people with hypertension in Macau

2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Effects of cyclooxygenase-1 and -2 gene disruption on Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric inflammation

Background. Cyclooxygenases (COXs) play important roles in inflammation and carcinogenesis. The present study aimed to determine the effects of COX-1 and COX-2 gene disruption on Helicobacter pylori-induced gastric inflammation. Methods. Wild-type (WT), COX-1 and COX-2 heterozygous (COX-1 +/- and COX-2 +/-), and homozygous COX-deficient (COX-1 -/- and COX-2 -/-) mice were inoculated with H. pylori strain TN2 and killed after 24 weeks of infection. Uninfected WT and COX-deficient mice were used as controls. Levels of gastric mucosal inflammation, epithelial cell proliferation and apoptosis, and cytokine expression were determined. Results. COX deficiency facilitated H. pylori-induced gastritis. In the presence of H. pylori infection, apoptosis was increased in both WT and COX-deficient mice, whereas cell proliferation was increased in WT and COX-1-deficient, but not in COX-2-deficient, mice. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin-10 mRNA expression was elevated in H. pylori-infected mice, but only TNF-α mRNA expression was further increased by COX deficiency. Prostaglandin E 2 levels were increased in infected WT and COX-2-deficient mice but were at very low levels in infected COX-1-deficient mice. Leukotriene (LT) B 4 and LTC 4 levels were increased to a similar extent in infected WT and COX-deficient mice. Conclusions. COX deficiency enhances H. pylori-induced gastritis, probably via TNF-α expression. COX-2, but not COX-1, deficiency suppresses H. pylori-induced cell proliferation. © 2006 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Search for K_S K_L in psi'' decays

K_S K_L from psi'' decays is searched for using the psi'' data collected by BESII at BEPC, the upper limit of the branching fraction is determined to be B(psi''--> K_S K_L) < 2.1\times 10^{-4} at 90% C. L. The measurement is compared with the prediction of the S- and D-wave mixing model of the charmonia, based on the measurements of the branching fractions of J/psi-->K_S K_L and psi'-->K_S K_L.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

Maternal care in rural China: a case study from Anhui province

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies on prenatal care in China have focused on the timing and frequency of prenatal care and relatively little information can be found on how maternal care has been organized and funded or on the actual content of the visits, especially in the less developed rural areas. This study explored maternal care in a rural county from Anhui province in terms of care organization, provision and utilization.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 699 mothers of infants under one year of age were interviewed with structured questionnaires; the county health bureau officials and managers of township hospitals (n = 10) and county level hospitals (n = 2) were interviewed; the process of the maternal care services was observed by the researchers. In addition, statistics from the local government were used.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The county level hospitals were well staffed and equipped and served as a referral centre for women with a high-risk pregnancy. Township hospitals had, on average, 1.7 midwives serving an average population of 15,000 people. Only 10–20% of the current costs in county level hospitals and township hospitals were funded by the local government, and women paid for delivery care. There was no systematic organized prenatal care and referrals were not mandatory. About half of the women had their first prenatal visit before the 13th gestational week, 36% had fewer than 5 prenatal visits, and about 9% had no prenatal visits. A major reason for not having prenatal care visits was that women considered it unnecessary. Most women (87%) gave birth in public health facilities, and the rest in a private clinic or at home. A total of 8% of births were delivered by caesarean section. Very few women had any postnatal visits. About half of the women received the recommended number of prenatal blood pressure and haemoglobin measurements.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Delivery care was better provided than both prenatal and postnatal care in the study area. Reliance on user fees gave the hospitals an incentive to put more emphasis on revenue generating activities such as delivery care instead of prenatal and postnatal care.</p

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Brassinolide interacts with auxin and ethylene in the root gravitropic response of maize ( Zea mays )

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72956/1/j.0031-9317.2004.00356.x.pd

Transcriptome profile analysis of flowering molecular processes of early flowering trifoliate orange mutant and the wild-type [Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.] by massively parallel signature sequencing

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>After several years in the juvenile phase, trees undergo flowering transition to become mature (florally competent) trees. This transition depends on the balanced expression of a complex network of genes that is regulated by both endogenous and environmental factors. However, relatively little is known about the molecular processes regulating flowering transition in woody plants compared with herbaceous plants.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Comparative transcript profiling of spring shoots after self-pruning was performed on a spontaneously early flowering trifoliate orange mutant (precocious trifoliate orange, <it>Poncirus trifoliata</it>) with a short juvenile phase and the wild-type (WT) tree by using massively parallel signature sequencing (MPSS). A total of 16,564,500 and 16,235,952 high quality reads were obtained for the WT and the mutant (MT), respectively. Interpretation of the MPSS signatures revealed that the total number of transcribed genes in the MT (31,468) was larger than in the WT (29,864), suggesting that newly initiated transcription occurs in the MT. Further comparison of the transcripts revealed that 2735 genes had more than twofold expression difference in the MT compared with the WT. In addition, we identified 110 citrus flowering-time genes homologous with known elements of flowering-time pathways through sequencing and bioinformatics analysis. These genes are highly conserved in citrus and other species, suggesting that the functions of the related proteins in controlling reproductive development may be conserved as well.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results provide a foundation for comparative gene expression studies between WT and precocious trifoliate orange. Additionally, a number of candidate genes required for the early flowering process of precocious trifoliate orange were identified. These results provide new insight into the molecular processes regulating flowering time in citrus.</p

Novel, Real-Time Cell Analysis for Measuring Viral Cytopathogenesis and the Efficacy of Neutralizing Antibodies to the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Virus

A novel electronic cell sensor array technology, the real-time cell analysis (RTCA) system, was developed to monitor cell events. Unlike the conventional methods labeling the target cells with fluorescence, luminescence, or light absorption, the RTCA system allows for label-free detection of cell processes directly without the incorporation of labels. Here, we used this new format to measure the cytopathic effect (CPE) of the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus and the efficacy of neutralizing antibodies in human sera to this virus. The real-time dynamic monitoring of CPE was performed on MDCK cell cultures infected with the H1N1 virus, ranging from 5.50×102 to 5.50×107 copies/mL. The resulting CPE kinetic curves were automatically recorded and were both time and viral load dependent. The CPE kinetics were also distinguishable between different H1N1 stains, as the onset of CPE induced by the A/Shanghai/37T/2009 H1N1 virus was earlier than that of the A/Shanghai/143T/2009 H1N1 virus. Furthermore, inhibition of H1N1 virus-induced CPE in the presence of human specific anti-sera was detected and quantified using the RTCA system. Antibody titers determined using this new neutralization test correlated well with those obtained independently via the standard hemagglutination inhibition test. Taken together, this new CPE assay format provided label-free and high-throughput measurement of viral growth and the effect of neutralizing antibodies, illustrating its potential in influenza vaccine studies

The proline-rich domain of tau plays a role in interactions with actin

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The microtubule-associated protein tau is able to interact with actin and serves as a cross-linker between the microtubule and actin networks. The microtubule-binding domain of tau is known to be involved in its interaction with actin. Here, we address the question of whether the other domains of tau also interact with actin.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Several tau truncation and deletion mutants were constructed, namely N-terminal region (tauN), proline-rich domain (tauPRD), microtubule binding domain (tauMTBD) and C-terminal region (tauC) truncation mutants, and microtubule binding domain (tauΔMTBD) and proline-rich domain/microtubule binding domain (tauΔPRD&MTBD) deletion mutants. The proline-rich domain truncation mutant (tauPRD) and the microtubule binding domain deletion mutant (tauΔMTBD) promoted the formation of actin filaments. However, actin assembly was not observed in the presence of the N-terminal and C-terminal truncation mutants. These results indicate that the proline-rich domain is involved in the association of tau with G-actin. Furthermore, results from co-sedimentation, solid phase assays and electron microscopy showed that the proline-rich domain is also capable of binding to F-actin and inducing F-actin bundles. Using solid phase assays to analyze apparent dissociation constants for the binding of tau and its mutants to F-actin resulted in a sequence of affinity for F-actin: tau >> microtubule binding domain > proline-rich domain. Moreover, we observed that the proline-rich domain was able to associate with and bundle F-actin at physiological ionic strength.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The proline-rich domain is a functional structure playing a role in the association of tau with actin. This suggests that the proline-rich domain and the microtubule-binding domain of tau are both involved in binding to and bundling F-actin.</p