Protective Effect of Calculus Bovis Sativus

Calculus Bovis Sativus (CBS) is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, which has been reported to exhibit antispasmodic, fever-reducing, anti-inflammatory, and gallbladder-repairing effects. The present study aims to investigate the protective effect of CBS on dextran sulphate sodium- (DSS-) induced ulcerative colitis (UC) in mice. C57BL/6 male mice were exposed to 5% DSS in drinking water. CBS was given orally at 50 and 150 mg/kg once per day for 7 days. Body weight, disease activity index (DAI), colon length, colonic myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) levels were measured. Administration of CBS significantly reserved these changes, decreased the MPO activity and MDA and NO level, and increased the SOD activity in the colon tissue. Histological observation suggested that CBS alleviated edema, mucosal damage, and inflammatory cells infiltration induced by DSS in the colon. Moreover, CBS significantly downregulated the mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin- (IL-) 1β and IL-6 in the colon tissue. Our data suggested that CBS exerted protective effect on DSS-induced UC partially through the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities

Effectively control negative thermal expansion of single-phase ferroelectrics of PbTiO3-(Bi,La)FeO3 over a giant range

Control of negative thermal expansion is a fundamentally interesting topic in the negative thermal expansion materials in order for the future applications. However, it is a challenge to control the negative thermal expansion in individual pure materials over a large scale. Here, we report an effective way to control the coefficient of thermal expansion from a giant negative to a near zero thermal expansion by means of adjusting the spontaneous volume ferroelectrostriction (SVFS) in the system of PbTiO3-(Bi,La) FeO3 ferroelectrics. The adjustable range of thermal expansion contains most negative thermal expansion materials. The abnormal property of negative or zero thermal expansion previously observed in ferroelectrics is well understood according to the present new concept of spontaneous volume ferroelectrostriction. The present studies could be useful to control of thermal expansion of ferroelectrics, and could be extended to multiferroic materials whose properties of both ferroelectricity and magnetism are coupled with thermal expansion

Tiling microarray analysis of rice chromosome 10 to identify the transcriptome and relate its expression to chromosomal architecture

BACKGROUND: Sequencing and annotation of the genome of rice (Oryza sativa) have generated gene models in numbers that top all other fully sequenced species, with many lacking recognizable sequence homology to known genes. Experimental evaluation of these gene models and identification of new models will facilitate rice genome annotation and the application of this knowledge to other more complex cereal genomes. RESULTS: We report here an analysis of the chromosome 10 transcriptome of the two major rice subspecies, japonica and indica, using oligonucleotide tiling microarrays. This analysis detected expression of approximately three-quarters of the gene models without previous experimental evidence in both subspecies. Cloning and sequence analysis of the previously unsupported models suggests that the predicted gene structure of nearly half of those models needs improvement. Coupled with comparative gene model mapping, the tiling microarray analysis identified 549 new models for the japonica chromosome, representing an 18% increase in the annotated protein-coding capacity. Furthermore, an asymmetric distribution of genome elements along the chromosome was found that coincides with the cytological definition of the heterochromatin and euchromatin domains. The heterochromatin domain appears to associate with distinct chromosome level transcriptional activities under normal and stress conditions. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated the utility of genome tiling microarray in evaluating annotated rice gene models and in identifying novel transcriptional units. The tiling microarray sanalysis further revealed a chromosome-wide transcription pattern that suggests a role for transposable element-enriched heterochromatin in shaping global transcription in response to environmental changes in rice

The spike weight contribution of the photosynthetic area above the upper internode in a winter wheat under different nitrogen and mulching regimes

Besides leaves, non-foliar green organs such as stem and spike are also considered photosynthetic organs. To assess the photosynthetic contributions of these organs, the correlations between these photosynthetic areas and single-spike weight were investigated in a winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) under four nitrogen and mulching treatments: N120, N150, N195, and N195 + M. Two-year repeated field experiments were conducted on the Loess Plateau of China. Non-foliar photosynthetic area, grain-filling ratio and duration, grain yield, and in particular, single-spike weight, were measured, recorded and analyzed. Under the N195 + M treatment, plants showed the largest area of photosynthetic organs (flag leaf and non-foliar organs) and the highest grain yield and single spike weight. Single-spike weight was positively correlated with the areas of all examined non-foliar photosynthetic organs, in particular with the area above the flag leaf node (R2 = 0.761⁎) and the area above the exposed part of the peduncle (EXP) (R2 = 0.800⁎⁎). In addition, single-spike weight was highly correlated with average grain-filling ratio (R2 = 0.993⁎⁎), whereas it was less highly correlated with grain-filling duration (R2 = 0.533). The morphological traits of non-foliar photosynthetic organs were also more highly correlated with average grain-filling ratio than with average grain-filling duration. The significant correlation between each of the morphological traits (area, length and width) of EXP and single-spike weight indicates that morphological traits of EXP are important in determining spike weight in the Loess Plateau environment. Keywords: Grain-filling ratio, Grain-filling duration, Loess Plateau, Photosynthetic organs, Single spike weight, Winter whea