Adenoviral transfer of human intedeukin-10 gene in lethal pancreatitis

AIM: To evaluate the therapeutic effect of adenoviral-vector-delivered human interleukin-10 (hIL-10) gene on severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) rats. METHODS: Healthy Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were intraperitoneally injected with adenoviral IL-10 gene (AdvhIL-10), empty vector (Adv0) or PBS solution. Blood, liver, pancreas and lung were harvested on the second day to examine hIL-10 level by ELISA and serum amylase by enzymatic assay. A SAP model was induced by retrograde injection of sodium taurocholate through pancreatic duct. SAP rats were then administered with AdvhIL-10, Adv0and PBS solution by a single intraperitoneal injection 20 min after SAP induction. In addition to serum amylase assay, levels of hIL-10 and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were detected by RT-PCR, ELISA and histological study. The mortality rate was studied and analyzed by Kaplan-Meier and log rank analysis.RESULTS: The levels of hIL-10 in the pancreas, liver and lung of healthy rats increased significantly after AdvhIL-10 injection (1.42 ng/g in liver, 0.91 ng/g in pancreas); while there was no significant change of hIL-10 in the other two control groups. The concentration of hIL-10 was increased significantly in the SAP rats after AdvhIL-10 injection (1.68 ng/g in liver, 1.12 ng/g in pancreas) compared to the other two SAP groups with blank vector or PBS treatment (P<0.05). The serum amylase levels remained normal in the AdvhIL-10 transfected healthy rats. However, the serum amylase level was significantly elevated in the other two control SAP rats. In contrast, serum amylase was down-regulated in the AdvhIL-10 treated SAP groups.The TNF-α expression in the AdvhIL-10 treated SAP rats was significantly lower compared to the other two control SAP groups. The pathohistological changes in the AdvhIL-10 treated group were better than those in the other two control groups. Furthermore, the mortality of the AdvhIL-10 treated group was significantly reduced compared to the other two control groups (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Adenoviral hIL-10 gene can significantly attenuate the severity of SAP rats, and can be used in the treatment of acute inflammation process.

The in vitro reconstitution of nucleosome and its binding patterns with HMG1/2 and HMG14/17 proteins

Using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the dynamic process of the in vitro nucleosome reconstitution followed by slow dilution from high salt to low salt was visualized. Data showed that the histone octamers were dissociated from DNA at 1M NaCl. When the salt concentration was slowly reduced to 650 mMand 300 mM, the core histones bound to the naked DNA gradually. Once the salt concentration was reduced to 50 mM the classic 'beads-on-a-string' structure was clearly visualized. Furthermore, using the technique of the in vitro reconstitution ofnucleosome,the mono- and di- nucleosomes were assembled in vitro with both HS2core (-10681 to -10970 bp) and NCR2 (-372to -194 bp) DNA sequences in the 5'flanking sequence of human b-globin gene. Data revealed that HMG 1/2 and HMG 14/17 proteins binding to both DNA sequences are changeable following the assembly and disassembly of nucleosomes. We suggest that the changeable binding patterns of HMG 14/17 and HMG1/2 proteins with these regulatory elements may be critical in the process of nucleosome assembly, recruitment of chromatin-modifying activities, and the regulation of human b-globin gene expression.

Functional expression of opioid receptor-like receptorand its endogenous specific agonist nociceptin/orphanin FQ during mouse embryogenesis

Expression of opioid receptor-like receptor (ORL1)and its endogenous peptide agonist nociceptin/orphaninFo (N/OFQ) during mouse embryogenesis have been investigated. Transcripts of ORL1 and N/OFQ were detected by RT-PCR in mouse brain of day 8 embryo (E8)and the expression continued afterwards. Northern blotanalysis revealed abundant expression of ORL1 at postnatal day 1 (P1) and N/OFQ at E17 and P1 in the brain butnone was detected in other embryonic tissues. The presence of functional ORL1 in mouse embryonic brain wasalso confirmed by specific binding of [3H] N/OFQ (kd=1.3±0.5 nM and Bmax = 72±9 fmol/mg protein) as wellas by N/OFQ-stimulated G protein activation.

Hepatic preconditioning of doxorubicin in stop-flow chemotherapy:NF-κB/IκB-α pathway and expression of HSP72

AIM: To provide hepatic protection through administration of doxorubicin before stop-flow chemotherapy (SFC) and to investigate the expression of heat shock protein 72(HSP72) and role of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) in this effect.METHODS: The hepatic preconditioning of doxorubicin was established in a porcine model by injection of doxorubidn(1 mg/kg) before SFC. The experimental animals were randomized into two groups: groups receiving doxorubicin(DOX) and normal saline (NS). Serial serum and tissue samples were taken from both groups to evaluate the protection of doxorubicin. Western blot and immunoprecipitation were applied to detect the expression of HSP72, NF-kB p65 protein, inhibitor kB-α (IkB-α) and phosphorylated IkB-α as well. The expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) was estimated by semiquantitative RT-PCR. And the extent of the hepatic injury was estimated with the level of serum aminotransferases.RESULTS: An abundance production of HSP72 in porcine liver was observed after 24 h of intravenous administration of doxorubicin, but without any change in the expression of NF-kB p65 subunit in cytoplasm. NF-kB p65 subunit accumulated in nuclei at the end of SFC and reached its highest level at 30 rain after the restoration of the abdominal circulation and decreased gradually during the 6 h after SFC in NS group, while there was little change in DOX group. There was also a slight decrease of IkB-α at 30 min after the restoration of the abdominal circulation in NS group accompanying with the appearance of phosphorylated IkB-α. The expression of TNF-α was significantly higher in NS group than that in DOX group (average 1.40±0.17 vs 0.62±0.22, P<0.01) at serial time points after SFC. Serum ALT and AST levels of NS group were higher after 24 h than those of DOX group (93.2±7.8 IU/L vs 53.34±13.9 IU/L,217.0±29.4 IU/L vs 155.0±15.6 IU/L for ALT and AST respectively, P<0.05) and alter 48 h than those of DOX group (66.6±18.1 IU/L vs 43.3±16.7 IU/L, 174.4±21.3 IU/Lvs 125.7±10.5 IU/L for ALT and AST respectively, P<0.05).CONCLUSION: Doxorubicin renders the liver to be tolerant to the hepatic influence in SFC in a porcine model through the NF-kB/IkB-α pathway with the expression of HSP72.

Thermodynamic study of K_2CrO_4-KAlO_2-KOH-H_2O and Na_2CrO_4-NaAlO_2-NaOH-H_2O systems

Phase diagrams of complex multi-component aqueous chromium salt system arethe important theoretical bases for increasing the recovery ratio of chromium and reducing thepoisonous waste in the chromate production process. Phase equilibrium of multi-component system hasbeen calculated from the limited known data with thermodynamic models. The phase equilibriums ofKOH-K_2CrO_4-H_2O, KOH-KA1O_2-H_2O, NaOH-Na_2CrO_4-H_2O and NaOH-NaAlO_2-H_2O systems werecalculated with thermodynamic models. The solubilities of Cr and Al was measured in the systems atdifferent temperatures. The results were compared with experimental data and they are consistentwith each other. It shows that the lower concentration of KOH (or NaOH) is favorable for thecrystallization of KA1O2 (or NaA102) and higher concentration of KOH (or NaOH) is favorable for thecrystallization of K_2Cr0_4 (Na_2Cr0_4). Therefore, K_2CrO_4 (or Na_2CrO_4) can be separated fromKA1O_2 (or NaAlO_2) with controlling the KOH concentration in solutions of KOH-K_2CrO_4-KalO_2-H_2Oor NaOH-Na_2CrO_4-NaAlO_2-H_2O systems.

Online belief propagation algorithm for probabilistic latent semantic analysis

Probabilistic latent semantic analysis （PLSA） is a topic model for text documents, which has been widely used in text mining, computer vision, computational biology and so on. For batch PLSA inference algorithms, the required memory size grows linearly with the data size, and handling massive data streams is very difficult. To process big data streams, we propose an online belief propagation （OBP） algorithm based on the improved factor graph representation for PLSA. The factor graph of PLSA facilitates the classic belief propagation （BP） algorithm. Furthermore, OBP splits the data stream into a set of small segments, and uses the estimated parameters of previous segments to calculate the gradient descent of the current segment. Because OBP removes each segment from memory after processing, it is memoryefficient for big data streams. We examine the performance of OBP on four document data sets, and demonstrate that OBP is competitive in both speed and accuracy for online ex- pectation maximization （OEM） in PLSA, and can also give a more accurate topic evolution. Experiments on massive data streams from Baidu further confirm the effectiveness of the OBP algorithm.

Vanadium metabolism investigation using substance flow and scenario analysis

Vanadium is a vital strategic resource, and vanadium metabolism is an important part of the national socio-economic system of China. This study conducts accounting and scenario analysis on the life cycle of vanadium metabolism in China. Based on the character- istics of vanadium life cycle and substance flow analysis （SFA） framework, we present a quantitative evaluation of a static anthropogenic vanadium life cycle for the year 2010. Results show that anthropogenic vanadium consumption, stocks, and new domestic scrap are at 98.2, 21.2, and 4.1 kt, respectively; new scrap is usually discarded. The overall utilization ratio of vanadium is 32.2%. A large amount of vanadium is stockpiled into tailings, debris, slags, and other spent solids. A scenario analysis was conducted to analyze the future developmental trend of vanadium metabolism in China based on the SFA frame- work and the qualitative analysis of technology advance- ment and socio-economic development. The baseline year was set as 2010. Several indicators were proposed to simulate different scenarios from 2010 to 2030. The scenario analysis indicates that the next 20 years is a critical period for the vanadium industry in China. This paper discusses relevant policies that contribute to the improvement of sustainable vanadium utilization in China.

Hierarchical charge distribution controls self-assembly process of silk in vitro

Silk materials with different nanostructures have been developed without the understanding of the inherent transformation mechanism. Here we attempt to reveal the conversion road of the various nanostructures and determine the critical regulating factors. The regulating conversion processes influenced by a hierarchical charge distribution were investigated, showing different transformations between molecules, nanoparticles and nanofibers. Various repulsion and compressive forces existed among silk fibroin molecules and aggregates due to the exterior and interior distribution of charge, which further controlled their aggregating and deaggregating behaviors and finally formed nanofibers with different sizes. Synergistic action derived from molecular mobility and concentrations could also tune the assembly process and final nanostructures, it is suggested that the complicated silk fibroin assembly processes comply a same rule based on charge distribution, offering a promising way to develop silk-based materials with designed nanostructures.

Enhanced micro-vibration sensitive high-damping capacity and mechanical strength achieved in AI matrix composites reinforced with garnet-like lithium electrolyte

A novel micro-vibration sensitive-type high-damping AI matrix composites reinforced with Li7-xLa3Zr2-xNbxO12 （LLZNO, x = 0.25） was designed and prepared using an advanced spark plasma sintering （SPS） technique. The damping capacity and mechanical properties of LLZNO/AI composites （LLZNO content： 0-40 wt.%） were found to be greatly improved by the LLZNO addition. The maximum damping capacity and the ultimate tensile strength （UTS） of LLZNO/AI composite can be respectively up to 0.033 and 101.2 MPa in the case of 20 wt.% LLZNO addition. The enhancement of damping and mechanical properties of the composites was ascribed to the intrinsic high-damping capacity and strengthening effects of hard LLZNO particulate. This investigation provides a new insight to sensitively suppress micro-vibration of payloads in the aerospace environment.