Simultaneous determination of flavonoids and triterpenoids in Cyclocarya paliurus leaves using high-performance liquid chromatography

Background: Cyclocarya paliurus is an endangered plant and endemic to China. The leaves of C. paliurus have been used in drug formulations and as ingredients in functional foods in China. The aim of this study was to develop an effective method to extract most of the compounds and to establish a simplified HPLC analytical method to determine the contents of major bioactive compounds simultaneously.Materials and methods: High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with a photodiode array detector (PDA) was used for the simultaneous determination of the major flavonoids and triterpenoids in C. paliurus leaves.Results: Ultrasonic extraction in 100% methanol for 30 min was adopted as the optimal extraction method for C. paliurus leaves. The separation conditions were optimized using a Phenomenex C18 ODS column (250 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase of acetonitrile and 0.02% formic acid and a detection wavelength of 205 nm. The validation data indicated that this new HPLC analytical method successfully quantified the provenance and seasonal variations of seven major compounds (three flavonoids and four triterpenoids) in C. paliurus leaves.Conclusion: The study provided a novel and simplified approach to simultaneously determine the quantity of major flavonoids and triterpenoids in C. paliurus leaves. The results could promote the optimization of silvicultural systems for quality control of C. paliurus.Key words: Cyclocarya paliurus; HPLC; flavonoids; triterpenoid

Osteopontin as potential biomarker and therapeutic target in gastric and liver cancers

published_or_final_versio

Magnetic field effects on the electroluminescence of organic light emitting devices: A tool to indicate the carrier mobility

The magnetoelectroluminescence (MEL) of organic light emitting devices with a N, N′ -bis(l-naphthyl)- N, N′ -diphenyl- 1, l′ -biphentl- 4, 4′ -diamine:tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (NPB: Alq 3) mixed emission layer (EML) has been investigated. We find that MEL is maximized when the volume ratio of NPB of the mixed EML reaches 30% and the EML thickness is 40 nm. The features of MEL under various magnetic field strengths are insensitive to the change in EML thickness and mixing ratio. Meanwhile, MEL has a close relationship with the carrier mobility. We have conducted a theoretical study to further verify the relationship. Our experimental and theoretical results confirm that MEL can function as a tool to indicate the mobility. © 2010 American Institute of Physics.published_or_final_versio

Improved prediction of RNA secondary structure by integrating the free energy model with restraints derived from experimental probing data.

PublishedEvaluation StudiesJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tRecently, several experimental techniques have emerged for probing RNA structures based on high-throughput sequencing. However, most secondary structure prediction tools that incorporate probing data are designed and optimized for particular types of experiments. For example, RNAstructure-Fold is optimized for SHAPE data, while SeqFold is optimized for PARS data. Here, we report a new RNA secondary structure prediction method, restrained MaxExpect (RME), which can incorporate multiple types of experimental probing data and is based on a free energy model and an MEA (maximizing expected accuracy) algorithm. We first demonstrated that RME substantially improved secondary structure prediction with perfect restraints (base pair information of known structures). Next, we collected structure-probing data from diverse experiments (e.g. SHAPE, PARS and DMS-seq) and transformed them into a unified set of pairing probabilities with a posterior probabilistic model. By using the probability scores as restraints in RME, we compared its secondary structure prediction performance with two other well-known tools, RNAstructure-Fold (based on a free energy minimization algorithm) and SeqFold (based on a sampling algorithm). For SHAPE data, RME and RNAstructure-Fold performed better than SeqFold, because they markedly altered the energy model with the experimental restraints. For high-throughput data (e.g. PARS and DMS-seq) with lower probing efficiency, the secondary structure prediction performances of the tested tools were comparable, with performance improvements for only a portion of the tested RNAs. However, when the effects of tertiary structure and protein interactions were removed, RME showed the highest prediction accuracy in the DMS-accessible regions by incorporating in vivo DMS-seq data.National Key Basic Research Program of China [2012CB316503]; National High-Tech Research and Development Program of China [2014AA021103]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [31271402]; Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program [2014z21045]; Hong Kong Research Grants Council Early Career Scheme [419612 to K.Y.]; National Science Foundation [1339282 to D.H.M.]; Computing Platform of the National Protein Facilities (Tsinghua University). Funding for open access charge: National Natural Science Foundation of China [31271402]

Repeated mitral valve replacement in a patient with extensive annular calcification

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mitral valve replacement in the presence of severe annular calcification is a technical challenge.</p> <p>Case report</p> <p>A 47-year-old lady who had undergone mitral and aortic valve replacement for rheumatic disease 27 years before presented with dyspnea. At reoperation, extensive mitral annular calcification was hindering the disc motion of the Starr-Edwards mitral prosthesis. The old prosthesis was removed and a St Jude Medical mechanical valve was implanted after thorough annular debridement. Postoperatively the patient developed paravalvular leak and hemolytic anemia, subsequently undergoing reoperation three days later. The mitral valve was replaced with an Edwards MIRA valve, with a bulkier sewing cuff, after more aggressive annular debridement. Although initially there was no paravalvular leak, it recurred five days later. The patient also developed a small cerebral hemorrhage. As the paravalvular leak and hemolytic anemia gradually worsened, the patient underwent reoperation 14 days later. A Carpentier-Edwards bioprosthetic valve with equine pericardial patches, one to cover the debrided calcified annulus, another as a collar around the prosthesis, was used to eliminate paravalvular leak. At 7 years postoperatively the patient is doing well without any evidence of paravalvular leak or structural valve deterioration.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Mitral valve replacement using a bioprosthesis with equine pericardial patches was useful to overcome recurrent paravalvular leak due to severe mitral annular calcification.</p

H-alpha +[NII] Observations of the HII Regions in M81

In a first of a series of studies of the H-alpha + [NII] emission from nearby spiral galaxies, we present measurements of H-alpha + [NII] emission from HII regions in M81. Our method uses large-field-CCD images and long-slit spectra, and is part of the ongoing Beijing-Arizona-Taipei-Connecticut Sky Survey. The CCD images are taken with the NAOC 0.6/0.9m f/3 Schmidt telescope at the Xinglong Observing Station, using a multicolor filter set. Spectra of 10 of the brightest HII regions are obtained using the NAOC 2.16m telescope with a Tek 1024 X 1024 CCD. The continua of the spectra are calibrated by flux-calibrated images taken from the Schmidt observations. We determine the continuum component of our H-alpha + [NII] image via interpolation from the more accurately-measured backgrounds (M81 starlight) obtained from the two neighboring (in wavelength) BATC filter images. We use the calibrated fluxes of H-alpha + [NII] emission from the spectra to normalize this interpolated, continuum-subtracted H-alpha + [NII] image. We estimate the zero point uncertainty of the measured H-alpha + [NII] emission flux to be $\sim$ 8%. A catalogue of H-alpha + [NII] fluxes for 456 HII regions is provided, with those fluxes are on a more consistent linear scale than previously available. The logarithmically-binned H-alpha + [NII] luminosity function of HII regions is found to have slope $\alpha$ = -0.70, consistent with previous results (which allowed $\alpha=-0.5 \sim -0.8$). From the overall H-alpha + [NII] luminosity of the HII regions, the star formation rate of M81 is found to be $\sim 0.68 M_{\odot} {\rm yr}^{-1}$, modulo uncertainty with extinction corrections.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Diet and Cell Size Both Affect Queen-Worker Differentiation through DNA Methylation in Honey Bees (Apis mellifera, Apidae)

Young larvae of the honey bee (Apis mellifera) are totipotent; they can become either queens (reproductives) or workers (largely sterile helpers). DNA methylation has been shown to play an important role in this differentiation. In this study, we examine the contributions of diet and cell size to caste differentiation.We measured the activity and gene expression of one key enzyme involved in methylation, Dnmt3; the rates of methylation in the gene dynactin p62; as well as morphological characteristics of adult bees developed either from larvae fed with worker jelly or royal jelly; and larvae raised in either queen or worker cells. We show that both diet type and cell size contributed to the queen-worker differentiation, and that the two factors affected different methylation sites inside the same gene dynactin p62.We confirm previous findings that Dnmt3 plays a critical role in honey bee caste differentiation. Further, we show for the first time that cell size also plays a role in influencing larval development when diet is kept the same