CsACO4, an ACC oxidase gene regulating male differentiation in cucumber

Ethylene has been implicated as a sex-determining hormone in cucumber: Its exogenous application increases femaleness and gynoecious genotypes were reported to produce more ethylene. 1- aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) oxidase (ACO) is the key enzyme in ethylene biosynthesis. In this study, a 1,188 base pair (bp) fragment was amplified from cucumber (Jinyan-4) genome with degenerated primers derived from the ACO amino acid consensus sequence among different plant species. The putative new gene was analyzed by bioinformatic tools. Phylogenic analysis result of the new gene (CsACO4, GenBank accession number AY450356) was in accordance with the evolution relationship of genetics among various plant species. The result of BLAST showed the sequence presented a very high match with the ACO genes from other plants; the homologue was from 80 to 99%. Using the sequence, a RNA interference (RNAi) transformation vector was constructed through the way of BP cloning. Eleven transgenic plants were obtained. The transgene integrated into cucumber genome was proved with PCR and southern blotting. The morphological exploration showed that the inserted RNAi target fragments could inhibit the endogenous CsACO4 gene expression and that it could regulate male differentiation in the lower nodes in cucumber.Keywords: Cucumber, ACC oxidase gene, RNAi, male differentiatio

Goal-directed fluid optimization based on stroke volume variation and cardiac index during one-lung ventilation in patients undergoing thoracoscopy lobectomy operations: a pilot study

OBJECTIVES: This pilot study was designed to utilize stroke volume variation and cardiac index to ensure fluid optimization during one-lung ventilation in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomies. METHODS: Eighty patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy were randomized into either a goal-directed therapy group or a control group. In the goal-directed therapy group, the stroke volume variation was controlled at 10%±1%, and the cardiac index was controlled at a minimum of 2.5 L.min-1.m-2. In the control group, the MAP was maintained at between 65 mm Hg and 90 mm Hg, heart rate was maintained at between 60 BPM and 100 BPM, and urinary output was greater than 0.5 mL/kg-1/h-1. The hemodynamic variables, arterial blood gas analyses, total administered fluid volume and side effects were recorded. RESULTS: The PaO2/FiO2-ratio before the end of one-lung ventilation in the goal-directed therapy group was significantly higher than that of the control group, but there were no differences between the goal-directed therapy group and the control group for the PaO2/FiO2-ratio or other arterial blood gas analysis indices prior to anesthesia. The extubation time was significantly earlier in the goal-directed therapy group, but there was no difference in the length of hospital stay. Patients in the control group had greater urine volumes, and they were given greater colloid and overall fluid volumes. Nausea and vomiting were significantly reduced in the goal-directed therapy group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that an optimization protocol, based on stroke volume variation and cardiac index obtained with a FloTrac/Vigileo device, increased the PaO2/FiO2-ratio and reduced the overall fluid volume, intubation time and postoperative complications (nausea and vomiting) in thoracic surgery patients requiring one-lung ventilation

Traditional Chinese medicine combined with hormone therapy to treat premature ovarian failure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: This meta-analysis aimed to provide critically estimated evidence for the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese herbal medicines used for premature ovarian failure (POF), which could provide suggestions for rational treatments.Materials and Methods: The databases searched included MEDLINE, EMBASE, CNKI, VIP, China Dissertation Database, China Important Conference Papers Database, and online clinical trial registry websites. Published and unpublished randomized controlled trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) combined with hormone therapy (HT) and HT alone for POF were assessed up to December 30, 2015. Two authors extracted data and assessed trial quality independently using Cochrane systematic review methods. Meta-analysis was used to quantitatively describe serum hormone levels and Kupperman scores associated with perimenopause symptoms.Results: Seventeen randomized controlled trials involving 1352 participants were selected. Compared with HT alone, although no significant effects were observed in the levels of luteinizing hormone, therapy with TCM combined with HT compared to HT alone effectively altered serum hormone levels of follicle stimulating hormone (P<0.01) and estradiol (P < 0.01), and improved Kupperman index scores (P< 0.01).Conclusions: The reported favorable effects of TCM combined with HT for treating POF patients are better than HT alone.However,the beneficial effects derived from this combination therapy cannot be viewed conclusive.In order to better support the clinical use, more rigorously designed trials are required to provide.Keywords: Traditional Chinese medicine, Hormone therapy, Premature ovarian failure, Meta-analysi

Prognostic value of vitamin D in patients with pneumonia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: To investigate the prognostic role of vitamin D in pneumonia patients  through meta-analysis.Methods: PubMed and Embase were systematically searched for relevant studies that assessed the impact of vitamin D on the risk of adverse outcomes among patients with pneumonia. Risk ratios (RR) with 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were pooled using meta-analysis. Q-test and I2 statistics were used to evaluate between-study heterogeneity.Results: Six studies were finally included in the meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis of these studies indicated that low vitamin D status was associated with higher risk of mortality among pneumonia patients (RR = 2.59, 95 % CI = 1.32-5.08; p = 0.005). Results from meta-analysis of studies with adjusted estimates suggest that low vitamin D status was independently associated with higher risk of mortality among pneumonia patients (RR = 3.15, 95 % CI 1.54-6.44, p = 0.002). There was no significant risk of bias in the meta-analysis.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that low vitamin D level is associated with a higher risk of adverse outcomes in patients with pneumonia.Keywords: Pneumonia, Vitamin D, Prognosis, Meta-analysis, Systematic revie

Study of Periplaneta Americana Microbial Community Structure and Diversity by 16S rRNA High-Throughput Sequencing

Objective: The present study probes into the microbial community structure in Periplaneta americana under different breeding conditions, using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing technique, in the hope of finding the microbial community structure in Periplaneta americana and their diversity under different breeding conditions. Methods: In this study, we extract the microbial metagenomic DNA of 5 groups of Periplaneta americana which under different breeding conditions. Using lllumina Miseq sequencing platform, two-terminal sequencing of V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA were sequenced; diversity of community structure was analyzed using the softwares such as fastqc, QIIME, PyNAST, fasttree and R language.Results: Shannon index of samples in SG group was lower than that of the other four groups, significantly lower than that of DB group (P<0.05), but not significantly different from other groups. This suggested that the intake of a mixed fodder with high sugar, high fat and high protein by Periplaneta americana can reduce the diversity of microbial communities. Our findings showed that breeding intervention with different fodders may cause differences in the contents of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria and Firmicutes in Periplaneta americana. Results showed that long-term intake of lots of sucrose and fat may increase the proportion of Bacteroidetes in Periplaneta americana; and long-term intake of lots of sucrose may reduce the proportion of Proteobacteria in Periplaneta americana; and long-term intake of lots of fat may reduce the proportion of Firmicutes in Periplaneta americana. Two major dominant bacterial genera in all samples were Blattabacterium and Rickettsiella. But different feeding interventions can change the proportions of Blattabacterium and Rickettsiella.Conclusion: Periplaneta americana has a complex microbial community structure. Different feeding conditions may change the microbial community structure of Periplaneta americana. An important bacterial genus in Periplaneta americana, Blattabacterium is positively correlated with the intake of sucrose- and fat-rich fodder. In the breeding process of Periplaneta americana, adding sucrose and fat to fodder may increase the content and proportion of Blattabacterium in microbial communities

1,3-Bis(4-chloro­phen­yl)-4,5-diethoxy­imidazolidine

In the mol­ecule of the title compound, C19H22Cl2N2O2, the two benzene rings are oriented at a dihedral angle of 3.70 (3)°. The five-membered ring adopts an envelope conformation

N-[(2S)-4-Chloro-2-(l-menth­yloxy)-5-oxo-2,5-dihydro­furan-3-yl]-l-valine

The title compound, C19H30ClNO5, was obtained by the tandem asymmetric Michael addition–elimination reaction of (5S)-3,4-dichloro-5-(l-menth­yloxy)furan-2(5H)-one and l-valine in the presence of potassium hydroxide. The furan­one unit is approximately planar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.0204 Å) and the six-membered cyclo­hexane ring adopts a chair conformation. The crystal structure is stabilized by a network of O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds

Integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine for Menopausal syndrome: Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background: To critically assess the evidence of integrated Chinese and western medicine for treating  Menopausal syndrome (MPS).Methods and Materials: A search across the Chinese Biomedical Medicine (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), VIP database (VIP), Wangfang database (Wanfang), PubMed and the Cochrane Library databases was conducted (up to October 31st, 2013) in commonly used integrated Chinese and western medicine therapies for menopausal syndrome. A number of Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) evaluating the therapeutic efficacy of integrated Chinese and western medicine in patients with PPS were included. The quality of the included studies was evaluated and a meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan5.0 software.Results: Twelve RCTs with 1155 patients were evaluated in this review. The results of meta-analysis showed that the therapy of using integrated Chinese and western medicine was significantly superior to that of western medicine alone towards improving the efficacy, relieving the clinical symptoms and decreasing follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH）levels (P&lt;0.05), even though the effects of two treatments were the same in regulating the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH) and estradiol (E2).Conclusion: Compared to a regular treatment with western medicine alone, the therapeutic approach that utilizes integration of Chinese with western medicine can effectively improve the clinical efficacy and serum hormone levels in patients with menopausal syndrome. However, the evidence was not very strong due to the poor quality of the included studies.Key words: Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Menopausal Syndrome, Meta-analysi

Antimicrobial peptaibols, novel suppressors of tumor cells, targeted calcium-mediated apoptosis and autophagy in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers in the world which is highly chemoresistant to currently available chemotherapeutic agents. Thus, novel therapeutic targets are needed to be sought for the successful treatment of HCC. Peptaibols, a family of peptides synthesized non-ribosomally by the <it>Trichoderma </it>species and other fungi, exhibit antibiotic activities against bacteria and fungi. Few studies recently showed that peptaibols exerted cytotoxicity toward human lung epithelial and breast carcinoma cells. However, the mechanism involved in peptaibol-induced cell death remains poorly understood.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we showed that Trichokonin VI (TK VI), a peptaibol from <it>Trichoderma pseudokoningii </it>SMF2, induced growth inhibition of HCC cells in a dose-dependent manner. It did not obviously impair the viability of normal liver cells at lower concentration. Moreover, the suppression of cell viability resulted from the programmed cell death (PCD) with characteristics of apoptosis and autophagy. An influx of Ca²⁺triggered the activation of μ-calpain and proceeded to the translocation of Bax to mitochondria and subsequent promotion of apoptosis. On the other hand, typically morphological characteristics consistent with autophagy were also observed by punctate distribution of MDC staining and the induction of LC3-II, including extensive autophagic vacuolization and enclosure of cell organelles by these autophagosomes. More significantly, specific depletion of Bak expression by small RNA interfering (siRNA) could partly attenuate TK VI-induced autophagy. However, siRNA against Bax led to increased autophagy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Taken together, these findings showed for the first time that peptaibols were novel regulators involved in both apoptosis and autophagy, suggesting that the class of peptaibols might serve as potential suppressors of tumor cells.</p

Europium-doped amorphous calcium phosphate porous nanospheres: preparation and application as luminescent drug carriers

Calcium phosphate is the most important inorganic constituent of biological tissues, and synthetic calcium phosphate has been widely used as biomaterials. In this study, a facile method has been developed for the fabrication of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP)/polylactide-block-monomethoxy(polyethyleneglycol) hybrid nanoparticles and ACP porous nanospheres. Europium-doping is performed to enable photoluminescence (PL) function of ACP porous nanospheres. A high specific surface area of the europium-doped ACP (Eu3+:ACP) porous nanospheres is achieved (126.7 m2/g). PL properties of Eu3+:ACP porous nanospheres are investigated, and the most intense peak at 612 nm is observed at 5 mol% Eu3+ doping. In vitro cytotoxicity experiments indicate that the as-prepared Eu3+:ACP porous nanospheres are biocompatible. In vitro drug release experiments indicate that the ibuprofen-loaded Eu3+:ACP porous nanospheres show a slow and sustained drug release in simulated body fluid. We have found that the cumulative amount of released drug has a linear relationship with the natural logarithm of release time (ln(t)). The Eu3+:ACP porous nanospheres are bioactive, and can transform to hydroxyapatite during drug release. The PL properties of drug-loaded nanocarriers before and after drug release are also investigated