The Value of Combining Wu Ling San Plus and Minus with Repaglinide in the Treatment of Obese Type 2 Diabetes

Objective: To investigate the clinical value and practical effects of the treatment of obese type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with Wu Ling San plus and minus combined with Repaglinide. Methods: Twenty-two obese type 2 diabetic patients attending the outpatient clinic of Yixing Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital from September 2020 to March 2022 were randomly selected as the subjects of this study, and all of them were divided into treatment group (n=11, Wu Ling San plus and minus + Repaglinide) and control group (n=11, single Repaglinide) according to the computerized random series grouping method. The clinical data and overall efficacy of the two groups were compared. Results: After treatment, the treatment group had better blood glucose, blood lipids and other basic indicators than the control group (P<0.05); all Chinese medicine symptoms scores and complication rates of the treatment group were lower than those of the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: The treatment of obese type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with Wu Ling San plus reduction + Repaglinide has significant efficacy and high drug safety, and can stabilize many indicators of blood glucose and blood lipids, reduce the risk of complications and control their body weight, which can be promoted and used in the treatment of related clinical conditions

Glycosphingolipid GM3 is Indispensable for Dengue Virus Genome Replication

Dengue virus (DENV) causes the most prevalent arthropod-borne viral disease of humans worldwide. Glycosphingolipids (GSLs) are involved in virus infection by regulating various steps of viral-host interaction. However, the distinct role of GSLs during DENV infection remains unclear. In this study, we used mouse melanoma B16 cells and their GSL-deficient mutant counterpart GM95 cells to study the influence of GSLs on DENV infection. Surprisingly, GM95 cells were highly resistant to DENV infection compared with B16 cells. Pretreatment of B16 cells with synthetase inhibitor of GM3, the most abundant GSLs in B16 cells, or silencing GM3 synthetase T3GAL5, significantly inhibited DENV infection. DENV attachment and endocytosis were not impaired in GM95 cells, but DENV genome replication was obviously inhibited in GM95 cells compared to B16 cells. Furthermore, GM3 was colocalized with DENV viral replication complex on endoplasmic reticulum (ER) inside the B16 cells. Finally, GM3 synthetase inhibitor significantly reduced the mortality rate of suckling mice that challenged with DENV by impairing the viral replication in mouse brain. Taken together, these data indicated that GM3 was not required for DENV attachment and endocytosis, however, essential for viral genome replication. Targeting GM3 could be a novel strategy to inhibit DENV infection

Progress on the Co-Pyrolysis of Coal and Biomass

In this chapter, the synergistic mechanism and the resulting influence during co-pyrolysis of coal and biomass, are summarized. The properties of coal and biomass, the release and migration of alkali and alkaline earth metals (AAEMs), the interaction between volatile and char, the characteristics of the resulting volatiles, and the physicochemical structure and reactivity of co-pyrolysis char, are also analyzed. In addition, the influence of AAEMs on the properties of the co-pyrolysis products is reviewed. Moreover, the analysis of the co-pyrolysis industry demonstration is also mentioned. Finally, this chapter also proposes some additional possibilities, based on further literature research

Amorphophallus muelleri activates ferulic acid and phenylpropane biosynthesis pathways to defend against Fusarium solani infection

Amorphophallus sp. is an economically important crop for rural revitalization in southwest China. However, Fusarium solani often infects Amorphophallus sp. corms during storage, damaging the corm quality and affecting leaf elongation and flowering in the subsequent crop. In this study, the mechanism of resistance to F. solani was investigated in the leaf bud and flower bud corms of Amorphophallus muelleri through transcriptome and metabolome analyses. A total of 42.52 Gb clean reads and 1,525 metabolites were detected in a total of 12 samples including 3 samples each of disease-free leaf bud corms (LC), leaf bud corms inoculated with F. solani for three days (LD), disease-free flower bud corms (FC), and flower bud corms inoculated with F. solani for three days (FD). Transcriptome, metabolome, and conjoint analyses showed that ‘MAPK signal transduction’, ‘plant-pathogen interaction’, ‘plant hormone signal transduction’, and other secondary metabolite biosynthesis pathways, including ‘phenylpropane biosynthesis’, ‘arachidonic acid metabolism’, ‘stilbene, diarylheptane and gingerolin biosynthesis’, and ‘isoquinoline alkaloids biosynthesis’, among others, were involved in the defense response of A. muelleri to F. solani. Ultimately, the expression of six genes of interest (AmCDPK20, AmRBOH, AmWRKY33, Am4CL, Am POD and AmCYP73A1) was validated by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and the results indicated that these genes were involved in the response of A. muelleri to F. solani. Ferulic acid inhibited the growth of F. solani, reducing the harm caused by F. solani to A. muelleri corms to a certain extent. Overall, this study lays a strong foundation for further investigation of the interaction between A. muelleri and F. solani, and provides a list of genes for the future breeding of F. solani-resistant A. muelleri cultivars

Cattle Mammary Bioreactor Generated by a Novel Procedure of Transgenic Cloning for Large-Scale Production of Functional Human Lactoferrin

Large-scale production of biopharmaceuticals by current bioreactor techniques is limited by low transgenic efficiency and low expression of foreign proteins. In general, a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) harboring most regulatory elements is capable of overcoming the limitations, but transferring BAC into donor cells is difficult. We describe here the use of cattle mammary bioreactor to produce functional recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) by a novel procedure of transgenic cloning, which employs microinjection to generate transgenic somatic cells as donor cells. Bovine fibroblast cells were co-microinjected for the first time with a 150-kb BAC carrying the human lactoferrin gene and a marker gene. The resulting transfection efficiency of up to 15.79×10−2 percent was notably higher than that of electroporation and lipofection. Following somatic cell nuclear transfer, we obtained two transgenic cows that secreted rhLF at high levels, 2.5 g/l and 3.4 g/l, respectively. The rhLF had a similar pattern of glycosylation and proteolytic susceptibility as the natural human counterpart. Biochemical analysis revealed that the iron-binding and releasing properties of rhLF were identical to that of native hLF. Importantly, an antibacterial experiment further demonstrated that rhLF was functional. Our results indicate that co-microinjection with a BAC and a marker gene into donor cells for somatic cell cloning indeed improves transgenic efficiency. Moreover, the cattle mammary bioreactors generated with this novel procedure produce functional rhLF on an industrial scale

Draft genome sequence of the mulberry tree Morus notabilis

Human utilization of the mulberry–silkworm interaction started at least 5,000 years ago and greatly influenced world history through the Silk Road. Complementing the silkworm genome sequence, here we describe the genome of a mulberry species Morus notabilis. In the 330-Mb genome assembly, we identify 128 Mb of repetitive sequences and 29,338 genes, 60.8% of which are supported by transcriptome sequencing. Mulberry gene sequences appear to evolve ~3 times faster than other Rosales, perhaps facilitating the species’ spread worldwide. The mulberry tree is among a few eudicots but several Rosales that have not preserved genome duplications in more than 100 million years; however, a neopolyploid series found in the mulberry tree and several others suggest that new duplications may confer benefits. Five predicted mulberry miRNAs are found in the haemolymph and silk glands of the silkworm, suggesting interactions at molecular levels in the plant–herbivore relationship. The identification and analyses of mulberry genes involved in diversifying selection, resistance and protease inhibitor expressed in the laticifers will accelerate the improvement of mulberry plants

Evaluation and improvement of a dual-channel method for detection and quantification of high-temperature events based on FireBIRD data

High-temperature events, such as fire hazards and volcanic eruptions, occur all over the world and influent the Earth's environment on global to local scales. However, the lack of practical monitoring and understanding of the high-temperature events leads a number of problems. The FireBIRD mission of DLR aims to an effective monitoring and fully understanding of these events. In this thesis, a competitive method called MITIP for detection and quantification of high-temperature events is introduced. It provides surface temperature and radiance maps and high-temperature events monitoring products using FireBIRD data. A fully investigation and evaluation of its performance is implemented and an improvement of the MITIP method is also included. Products of the MITIP method and comparison of them with the results of Zhukov's algorithm, which is used to process the FireBIRD data originally, is presented