iNOS regulates activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome through the sGC/cGMP/PKG/TACE/TNF-α axis in response to cigarette smoke resulting in aortic endothelial pyroptosis and vascular dysfunction.

Background: Cigarette smoke (CS) is associated with vascular injury and dysfunction, which may be mediated by iNOS and NLRP3. However, the exact mechanism is unknown.

Methods: iNOS-knockout and NLRP3-knockout C57BL/6 mice were exposed to air or CS.

Characteristic analysis of clinical coronary heart disease and coronary artery disease concerning young and middle-aged male patients.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a type of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease. In recent years, the incidence of CHD has been increasing annually, with an increasing number of young patients. Severe CHD may cause severe myocardial ischemia or myocardial necrosis, which in turn may cause myocardial infarction and related complications that seriously affect the life and health of the patient.

[Surgical treatment for intra-articular calcaneal fractures].

Objective: To evaluate clinical result of surgical treatment for intra-articular calcaneal fractures using calcaneal anatomy plate.

Methods: From September 2004 to October 2009, 72 patients with intra-articular calcaneal fractures were reviewed. There were 61 males and 11 females, ranging in age from 19 to 54 years old,with an average of 39.

Identification of physicochemical properties of Scylla paramamosain allergen, arginin kinase.

Background: Arginine kinase (AK) is expressed in a wide variety of species, including human food sources (seafood) and pests (cockroaches and moths), and has been reported as a novel allergen. However, there has been little research on the allergenicity of AK in crustaceans. In this study the physicochemical properties of AK from mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) were investigated.

Induction of mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) tropomyosin and arginine kinase specific hypersensitivity in BALB/c mice.

Background: Shellfish hypersensitivity is among the most common food allergies. The allergens tropomyosin (TM) and arginine kinase (AK) from mud crab (Scylla paramamosain) were purified to homogeneity. BALB/c female mice were sensitized with TM and AK by intragastric administration.

Risk assessment and ecological effects of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis crops on non-target organisms.

The application of recombinant DNA technology has resulted in many insect-resistant varieties by genetic engineering (GE). Crops expressing Cry toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been planted worldwide, and are an effective tool for pest control. However, one ecological concern regarding the potential effects of insect-resistant GE plants on non-target organisms (NTOs) has been continually debated.

Purification, cloning, expression and immunological analysis of Scylla serrata arginine kinase, the crab allergen.

Background: Although crustaceans have been reported to be one of the most common causes of IgE-mediated allergic reactions, there are no reports about the characterization and identification of arginine kinase (AK) from the mud crab (Scylla serrata) as allergen. In the present study, the purification, molecular cloning, expression and immunological analyses of the IgE allergen AK from the mud crab were investigated.

Results: The results showed that cloned DNA fragments of AK from the mud crab had open reading frames of 1021 bp, predicted to encode proteins with 356 amino acid residues.

Effects of different processing methods on digestibility of Scylla paramamosain allergen (tropomyosin).

Crustacean allergy is a significant health problem around the world, and tropomyosin (TM) represents the major allergen of crustaceans. The aim of this study was to evaluate three processing methods (boiling, CUB, HPS) and identify the one method that is most effective in the degradation of TM and reduction of its IgE-binding reactivity, and make it easier to be decomposed during gastrointestinal digestion. SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that boiling had little impact on the digestive stability of TM.

[Identification of volatiles from field cotton plant under different induction treatments].

The volatiles of field cotton plant at its squaring stage were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively under treatments of mechanical injury (treatment A), cotton bollworm (CBW) injury (treatment B), CBW plus CBW larva injury (treatment C), and salicylic acid (SA) inducement (treatment D). The volatiles were gathered in an automatic circle system, absorbed by Tenax-TA column, and analyzed with GC-MS system. About 30 kinds of volatiles were qualitatively identified, including terpenoids, aliphatic compounds, aromatic compounds, 3-hexanone, 2-hexanone, 3-hexanol, a-pinene, beta-pinene, beta-myrcene, propenoic acid, butyl ester, acetic acid, pentyl ester, acetic acid, butyl ester, butanoic acid, 3-methyl-, ethyl ester, benzaldehyde, acetophenone and 1, 3, 6-octatriene,3 ,7-dimethyl, etc.