Maitake beta-glucan promotes recovery of leukocytes and myeloid cell function in peripheral blood from paclitaxel hematotoxicity.

Bone marrow myelotoxicity is a major limitation of chemotherapy. While granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) treatment is effective, alternative approaches to support hematopoietic recovery are sought. We previously found that a beta-glucan extract from maitake mushroom Grifola frondosa (MBG) enhanced colony forming unit-granulocyte monocyte (CFU-GM) activity of mouse bone marrow and human hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC), stimulated G-CSF production and spared HPC from doxorubicin toxicity in vitro.

Protective effect of albumin on VEGF and brain edema in acute ischemia in rats.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to be an important stroke-related pathogenic factor for the formation of brain edema. We examined the therapeutic effect of human serum albumin on VEGF expression in acute ischemic stroke. Adult male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were subjected to Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion (MCAO), the suture was withdrawn 2 h later, and 25% albumin (1.

Design and synthesis of potent Quillaja saponin vaccine adjuvants.

The success of antitumor and antiviral vaccines often requires the use of an adjuvant, a substance that significantly enhances the immune response to a coadministered antigen. Only a handful of adjuvants have both sufficient potency and acceptable toxicity for clinical investigation. One promising adjuvant is QS-21, a saponin natural product that is the immunopotentiator of choice in many cancer and infectious disease vaccine clinical trials.

A DDX5 S480A polymorphism is associated with increased transcription of fibrogenic genes in hepatic stellate cells.

We recently identified a missense single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in DDX5 (rs1140409, p.S480A) that enhances the risk of developing cirrhosis. DDX5 is an ATP-dependent RNA helicase and transcriptional modulator.

Dissecting early differentially expressed genes in a mixture of differentiating embryonic stem cells.

The differentiation of embryonic stem cells is initiated by a gradual loss of pluripotency-associated transcripts and induction of differentiation genes. Accordingly, the detection of differentially expressed genes at the early stages of differentiation could assist the identification of the causal genes that either promote or inhibit differentiation. The previous methods of identifying differentially expressed genes by comparing different cell types would inevitably include a large portion of genes that respond to, rather than regulate, the differentiation process.

A biophysical model for analysis of transcription factor interaction and binding site arrangement from genome-wide binding data.

Background: How transcription factors (TFs) interact with cis-regulatory sequences and interact with each other is a fundamental, but not well understood, aspect of gene regulation.

Methodology/principal Findings: We present a computational method to address this question, relying on the established biophysical principles. This method, STAP (sequence to affinity prediction), takes into account all combinations and configurations of strong and weak binding sites to analyze large scale transcription factor (TF)-DNA binding data to discover cooperative interactions among TFs, infer sequence rules of interaction and predict TF target genes in new conditions with no TF-DNA binding data.

Chinese word processing in nonfluent aphasic patients.

Background: Chinese nonfluent aphasic patients experience apparent speech production deficit, but it remains less known in which part of Chinese speech production this deficit occurs. The present study aimed to examine the ability of nonfluent aphasic patients in Chinese orthography, phonological and semantic processing via two experiments. Experiment I disclosed the general pattern of deficit of Chinese nonfluent aphasic patients in speech production.

Identification and characterization of the first reptilian CD9, and its expression analysis in response to bacterial infection.

In this study, a CD9 homologue in a reptile, Chinese soft-shelled turtle, has been cloned and identified for the first time. The full-length cDNA of turtle CD9 was 1146bp and contained a 672bp open reading frame (ORF) coding for a protein of 224 amino acids. Four transmembrane domains (TMs) divided the turtle CD9 into several parts: short N-, C-termini, an intracellular loop and two (small and large) extracellular loops (SEL and LEL).

Biochemical characterization and transcriptional analysis of the epoxide hydrolase from white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

The white-rot basidiomycetes Phanerochaete chrysosporium is a model fungus used to investigate the secondary metabolism and lignin degradation. Genomic sequencing reveals the presence of at least 18 genes encoding putative epoxide hydrolases (EHs). One cDNA encoding EH (designated as PchEHA) was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli.

Does the onset of sexual maturation terminate the expression of migratory behaviour in moths? A study of the oriental armyworm, Mythimna separata.

It is generally accepted that in most insects adults are sexually immature when they initiate migration and that migratory behaviour terminates with the onset of sexual maturation. However, a few studies examining the mating status of field collected moths have suggested that sexually mature individuals may continue migrating, but in these cases it was impossible to completely eliminate the possibility that the mated females captured came from local, non-migrant populations. In this study we examined the ovarian development of Mythimna separata females captured using a vertical pointing searchlight trap on Beihuang Island in the Bohai Gulf, China, a site >40km from land.

Transcriptomic profiling of central nervous system regions in three species of honey bee during dance communication behavior.

Background: We conducted a large-scale transcriptomic profiling of selected regions of the central nervous system (CNS) across three species of honey bees, in foragers that were performing dance behavior to communicate to their nestmates the location, direction and profitability of an attractive floral resource. We used microarrays to measure gene expression in bees from Apis mellifera, dorsata and florea, species that share major traits unique to the genus and also show striking differences in biology and dance communication. The goals of this study were to determine the extent of regional specialization in gene expression and to explore the molecular basis of dance communication.

Kinetic and motor functions mediated by distinct regions of the regulatory light chain of smooth muscle myosin.

To understand the importance of selected regions of the regulatory light chain (RLC) for phosphorylation-dependent regulation of smooth muscle myosin (SMM), we expressed three heavy meromyosins (HMMs) containing the following RLC mutants; K12E in a critical region of the phosphorylation domain, GTDP(95-98)/AAAA in the central hinge, and R160C a putative binding residue for phosphorylated S19. Single-turnover actin-activated Mg(2+)-ATPase (V(max) and K(ATPase)) and in vitro actin-sliding velocities were examined for both unphosphorylated (up-) and phosphorylated (p-) states. Turnover rates for the up-state (0.

Prevalence of kidney dysfunction in humans - relationship to cadmium dose, metallothionein, immunological and metabolic factors.

Long term cadmium (Cd) exposure in occupational and general environments may give rise to kidney dysfunction. This effect is usually considered to be the critical effect, i. e.

Gene expression analysis of Phanerochaete chrysosporium during the transition time from primary growth to secondary metabolism.

In order to identify the secondary metabolism-related genes of Phanerochaete chrysosporium growing under pure O2 and nitrogen-limited conditions, 2322 ESTs fragments originated from two suppression-subtractive libraries were analyzed using the cDNA microarray technique. Ten significantly upregulated and 22 significantly downregulated genes were identified in the 72 h cultured mycelia RNA samples (secondary metabolism). According to qPCR, 16 out of the 32 genes were expressed differently in secondary metabolism.

Transcriptional regulation of wheat VER2 promoter in rice in response to abscisic acid, jasmonate, and light.

VER2 is a key gene associated with vernalization process in winter wheat. The expression of VER2 can be induced by low temperature treatment. To further understand how the expression of this gene is mediated by various external and internal factors, different lengths of the VER2 promoter region have been transcriptionally fused with a reporter gene, green fluorescence protein (GFP), and transformed into the model plant, rice (Oryza sativa L.

Scavenger Receptor BI Protects against Septic Death through Its Role in Modulating Inflammatory Response.

Sepsis is a leading cause of death that is characterized by uncontrolled inflammatory response. In this study, we report that scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI), a high density lipoprotein receptor, is a critical survival factor of sepsis. We induced sepsis using an established septic animal model, cecal ligation and puncture (CLP).

Characterization of tightly associated smooth muscle myosin-myosin light-chain kinase-calmodulin complexes.

A current popular model to explain phosphorylation of smooth muscle myosin (SMM) by myosin light-chain kinase (MLCK) proposes that MLCK is bound tightly to actin but weakly to SMM. We found that MLCK and calmodulin (CaM) co-purify with unphosphorylated SMM from chicken gizzard, suggesting that they are tightly bound. Although the MLCK:SMM molar ratio in SMM preparations was well below stoichiometric (1:73+/-9), the ratio was approximately 23-37% of that in gizzard tissue.

RSK1 drives p27Kip1 phosphorylation at T198 to promote RhoA inhibition and increase cell motility.

p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK1) is an effector of both Ras/MEK/MAPK and PI3K/PDK1 pathways. We present evidence that RSK1 drives p27 phosphorylation at T198 to increase RhoA-p27 binding and cell motility. RSK1 activation and p27pT198 both increase in early G(1).

Hepatic stellate cells express functional CXCR4: role in stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha-mediated stellate cell activation.

Unlabelled: Chemokine interactions with their receptors have been implicated in hepatic stellate cell (HSC) activation. The hepatic expression of CXCR4 messenger RNA is increased in hepatitis C cirrhotic livers and plasma levels of its endogenous ligand, stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha), correlate with increased fibrosis in these patients. The expression of CXCR4 by HSCs has not been reported.

Dysfunctional high-density lipoprotein.

Purpose Of Review: To address the progress of the investigation on dysfunctional high-density lipoprotein (HDL).

Recent Findings: HDL is generally considered to be an independent protective factor against cardiovascular disease. However, emerging evidence indicates that HDL can be modified under certain circumstances and lose its protective effect or even become atherogenic.

Induction of an oxalate decarboxylase in the filamentous fungus Trametes versicolor by addition of inorganic acids.

In order to improve yields and to reduce the cost of oxalate decarboxylase (OxDC, EC 4.1.1.

Substrate specificity and thermostability of the dehairing alkaline protease from Bacillus pumilus.

An alkaline protease (DHAP) from Bacillus pumilus has shown great potential in hide dehairing. To get better insights on its catalytic properties for application, the substrate specificity and thermostability were investigated using five natural proteins and nine synthetic peptides. The results showed that DHAP could hydrolyze five proteins tested here in different specificity.

Energy balanced strategies for maximizing the lifetime of sparsely deployed underwater acoustic sensor networks.

Underwater acoustic sensor networks (UWA-SNs) are envisioned to perform monitoring tasks over the large portion of the world covered by oceans. Due to economics and the large area of the ocean, UWA-SNs are mainly sparsely deployed networks nowadays. The limited battery resources is a big challenge for the deployment of such long-term sensor networks.

Functional linkage of cirrhosis-predictive single nucleotide polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor 4 to hepatic stellate cell responses.

Unlabelled: In a recent study, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) gene (c.1196C>T [rs4986791, p.T399I]) emerged as conferring protection from fibrosis progression compared to a major, wild-type (WT) CC allele (p.