Study on the Evaluation Index System of International Competitiveness of Chinese Private Express Delivery Enterprises

With the deepening of Chinese express market openness, Chinese private express delivery enterprises are facing global competition in domestic and foreign express markets. To achieve sustained and stable development, Chinese private express enterprises have to seize international market share and improve their international competitiveness. According to the factors influencing the international competitiveness of Chinese private express enterprises and its present situation, based on the connotation of international competitiveness of enterprises and characteristics of express industry, the evaluation index system is set up in this paper to make up for the deficiency of Chinese private express enterprises and enhance their international competitiveness

Panax notoginseng

To investigate the therapeutic effects of PN on intestinal inflammation and microvascular injury and its mechanisms, dextran sodium sulfate- (DSS-) or iodoacetamide- (IA-) induced rat colitis models were used. After colitis model was established, PN was orally administered for 7 days at daily dosage of 1.0 g/kg. Obvious colonic inflammation and mucosal injuries and microvessels were observed in DSS- and IA-induced colitis groups. DAI scores, serum concentrations of VEGFA121, VEGFA165, VEGFA165/VEGFA121, IL-6, and TNF-α, and expression of Rap1GAP and TSP1 proteins in the colon were significantly higher while serum concentrations of IL-4 and IL-10 and MVD in colon were significantly lower in the colitis model groups than in the normal control group. PN promoted repair of colonic mucosal injury and microvessels, attenuated inflammation, and decreased DAI scores in rats with colitis. PN also decreased the serum concentrations of VEGFA121, VEGFA165, VEGFA165/VEGFA121, IL-6, and TNF-α and increased the serum concentrations of IL-4 and IL-10, with the expression of Rap1GAP and TSP1 proteins in colonic mucosa being downregulated. The constituents of PN were identified with HPLC-DAD. To sum up, PN could promote repair of injuries of colonic mucosa and microvessels via downregulating VEGFA isoforms and inhibiting Rap1GAP/TSP1 signaling pathway

13C-Metabolic Flux Analysis Reveals the Metabolic Flux Redistribution for Enhanced Production of Poly-γ-Glutamic Acid in dlt Over-Expressed Bacillus licheniformis

Poly-γ-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) is an anionic polymer with various applications. Teichoic acid (TA) is a special component of cell wall in gram-positive bacteria, and its D-alanylation modification can change the net negative charge of cell surface, autolysin activity and cationic binding efficiency, and might further affect metabolic production. In this research, four genes (dltA, dltB, dltC, and dltD) of dlt operon were, respectively, deleted and overexpressed in the γ-PGA producing strain Bacillus licheniformis WX-02. Our results implied that overexpression of these genes could all significantly increase γ-PGA synthetic capabilities, among these strains, the dltB overexpression strain WX-02/pHY-dltB owned the highest γ-PGA yield (2.54 g/L), which was 93.42% higher than that of the control strain WX-02/pHY300 (1.31 g/L). While, the gene deletion strains produced lower γ-PGA titers. Furthermore, 13C-Metabolic flux analysis was conducted to investigate the influence of dltB overexpression on metabolic flux redistribution during γ-PGA synthesis. The simulation data demonstrated that fluxes of pentose phosphate pathway and tricarboxylic acid cycle in WX-02/pHY-dltB were 36.41 and 19.18 mmol/g DCW/h, increased by 7.82 and 38.38% compared to WX-02/pHY300 (33.77 and 13.86 mmol/g DCW/h), respectively. The synthetic capabilities of ATP and NADPH were also increased slightly. Meanwhile, the fluxes of glycolytic and by-product synthetic pathways were all reduced in WX-02/pHY-dltB. All these above phenomenons were beneficial for γ-PGA synthesis. Collectively, this study clarified that overexpression of dltB strengthened the fluxes of PPP pathway, TCA cycle and energy metabolism for γ-PGA synthesis, and provided an effective strategy for enhanced production of γ-PGA

Metabolomics Reveals Effect of Zishen Jiangtang Pill, a Chinese Herbal Product on High-Fat Diet-Induced Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Mice

A Chinese herbal decoction, Zishen Jiangtang Pill (ZJP), has been clinically prescribed to diabetic patients to prevent excessive blood sugar levels for decades. However, the potential mechanisms of this action have not been well investigated. The purpose of this study was to explore the metabolic variations in response to ZJP treatment for an animal model of obese type 2 diabetes. An UHPLC-Orbitrap/MS-based metabolomics tool was conducted to reveal the potential mechanisms of ZJP on diabetic mice. The treatment with ZJP significantly restored the increased levels of insulin, glucose and total cholesterol in high-fat diet mice. A total of 26 potential biomarkers were found and identified in serum samples, amongst which 24 metabolites were robustly affected and driven back to the control-like levels after ZJP treatment. By analyzing the metabolic pathways, glutathione metabolism, steroid hormone biosynthesis and glycerophospholipid metabolism were suggested to be closely involved in diabetes disease. From the above outcomes, it can be concluded that ZJP exhibits a promising anti-diabetic activity, largely due to the regulation of phospholipid metabolism, including phosphatidylcholines, lysophosphatidylcholines, and phosphatidylinositol

Isolation and characterization of the mink interferon-epsilon gene and its antiviral activity

The interferon (IFN) response is the first line of defense against viral invasion and thus plays a central role in the regulation of the immune response. IFN-epsilon (IFN-ε) is a newly discovered type I IFN that does not require viral induction, unlike other type I IFNs. IFN-ε is constitutively expressed in epithelial cells and plays an important role in mucosal immunity. In this study, we evaluated the biological activity of the mink-IFN (MiIFN)-ε gene in prokaryotic cells. Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate IFN-ε expression in different mink tissues. MiIFN-ε was highly expressed in brain, lung, tracheal, kidney, intestinal, bladder, ovarian, and testis tissues. There was no significant difference in MiIFN-ε expression between female and male minks, except in the reproductive system. Expression of the small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO3)-MiIFN-ε fusion gene was induced by isopropylβ-d-thiogalactoside, and MiIFN-ε was collected after SUMO-specific protease digestion. We tested the antiviral activity of MiIFN-ε against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in epithelial cells of feline kidney 81 (F81). We used qRT-PCR to analyze the expression of several IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), including ISG15, 2′-5′ oligoadenylate synthetase (2′-5′OAS1), and myxovirus resistance protein 1 (Mx1). Recombinant IFN-ε induced high ISG expression in F81 cells. Compared with those in the cell control group, expressions of ISG15, Mx1, and 2′-5′ OAS1 in the VSV-GFP control, IFN-ε, and MiIFN-ε-inhibited VSV-GFP groups were significantly increased. Compared with those in the VSV-GFP control group, expressions of ISG15 and 2′-5′ OAS1 in the IFN-ε and MiIFN-ε-inhibited VSV-GFP groups were significantly increased, and the differences were highly significant (p < 0.0001). IFN-ε played an indirect antiviral role. These findings lay the foundation for detailed investigation of IFN-ε in the future

RING finger 138 deregulation distorts NF-кB signaling and facilities colitis switch to aggressive malignancy

Prolonged activation of nuclear factor (NF)-кB signaling significantly contributes to the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). New therapeutic opportunities are emerging from targeting this distorted cell signaling transduction. Here, we discovered the critical role of RING finger 138 (RNF138) in CRC tumorigenesis through regulating the NF-кB signaling, which is independent of its Ubiquitin-E3 ligase activity involved in DNA damage response. RNF138(−/−) mice were hyper-susceptible to the switch from colitis to aggressive malignancy, which coincided with sustained aberrant NF-кB signaling in the colonic cells. Furthermore, RNF138 suppresses the activation of NF-кB signaling pathway through preventing the translocation of NIK and IKK-Beta Binding Protein (NIBP) to the cytoplasm, which requires the ubiquitin interaction motif (UIM) domain. More importantly, we uncovered a significant correlation between poor prognosis and the downregulation of RNF138 associated with reinforced NF-кB signaling in clinical settings, raising the possibility of RNF138 dysregulation as an indicator for the therapeutic intervention targeting NF-кB signaling. Using the xenograft models built upon either RNF138-dificient CRC cells or the cells derived from the RNF138-dysregulated CRC patients, we demonstrated that the inhibition of NF-кB signaling effectively hampered tumor growth. Overall, our work defined the pathogenic role of aberrant NF-кB signaling due to RNF138 downregulation in the cascade events from the colitis switch to colonic neoplastic transformation and progression, and also highlights the possibility of targeting the NF-кB signaling in treating specific subtypes of CRC indicated by RNF138-ablation

Household, community, sub-national and country-level predictors of primary cooking fuel switching in nine countries from the PURE study

Introduction. Switchingfrom polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal)to clean (e.g. gas, electricity) cooking fuels can reduce household air pollution exposures and climate-forcing emissions.While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel factors in household fuel switching, outside of interventions and across diverse community settings, is not well understood. Methods.We examined longitudinal survey data from 24 172 households in 177 rural communities across nine countries within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology study.We assessed household-level primary cooking fuel switching during a median of 10 years offollow up (∼2005–2015).We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine the relative importance of household, community, sub-national and national-level factors contributing to primary fuel switching. Results. One-half of study households(12 369)reported changing their primary cookingfuels between baseline andfollow up surveys. Of these, 61% (7582) switchedfrom polluting (wood, dung, agricultural waste, charcoal, coal, kerosene)to clean (gas, electricity)fuels, 26% (3109)switched between different polluting fuels, 10% (1164)switched from clean to polluting fuels and 3% (522)switched between different clean fuels