Isolation and Biological Determination of Bacillus thuringiensis with High Toxicity in Soil of Changbai Mountain Area

[Objective] This study was conducted to isolate and screen new Bacillus thuringiensis （Bt） strains against Lepidoptera insecticides. [Method] Bt strains were isolated from soil of Changbai Mountain area by temperature screening method, and highly-toxic Bt stains were then selected by biological determination and toxicity de- termination. [Result] From 150 soil samples, 18 Bt isolates were isolated, with an average isolation rate of 12.0%. Specifically, the isolation rate from mountain field was 8.5 %, and the isolation rate from farmland was 16.2%. The results of activity determination showed that there were17, 5 and 4 strains showing lethality rate over 90% against Plutel/a xylosrel/a, Spodoptera litura and Spodptera exigua, respectively, and among them, strain YNI-1 exhibited high activity against all the 3 kinds of in- sects. The results of toxicity determination showed that strain YNl-lhad the best fast-acting property against S.litura and S. exigua; strains with high toxicity against S. exigua were YN6-2〉YN1-1〉YN4-2〉YN2-6 sequentially; and toxicity of strains against S. /itura was in order of YN4-4〉YN1-1 〉YN6-1 〉YN4-1 〉YN2-1. [Conclusion] According to activity determination and toxicity determination, strain YN1-1 was screened as the target strain with wide spectrum, fast-acting property and high toxi- city.

THE USE OF CHELATING RESIN FOR THE PRE-CONCENTRATION OF TRACE RARE EARTH ELEMENTS IN BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES AND THEIR DETERMINATION

Macroporous amino-carboxvlic chelating resin of acrylic acid series may concentrate trace rare earth in the presence of 0.1 mol/l α-hydroxy-isobutyric acid at pH 4.5.With 0.10 mol/l HCl as eluant rare earth may be eluted quantitatively and separated from Ca,Mg,Fe and Cu.This method is used to determine trace amount of rare earth in human hair,stone (in kidney and bladder),peanut,grape,strawberry,cucumber,pig liver and other biological samples.

Sex Determination in Homo sapiens as a Multi-Step Process: Potential for Development of Variants and Sex Differences in Disease Risk

Reproduction via cis-binary mechanisms appears to have evolved fairly early in the evolution of complex organisms, and a system committed to prior to evolution of humans. While the evolution of a chromosomal-specific approach has been a successful strategy for survival of a large variety of species including humans, the fidelity of sex determination leading to 100% cis-binary outcomes is not achieved in many species, with evidence for homosexual or bisexual behaviour evident in more than 1500 species. Thus, such outcomes indicates that sex determination is a multi-step process and not a single event, and as such, could lead to the appearance of variants during the process which developed much earlier than humans. Variants could arise either due to intrinsic variation in the steps of determination, or also be influenced by environmental factors of a biological or psychological nature. In contrast to homosexual variants which do not require interventions such as hormone therapy or surgery, expression of gender dysphoria, is more based in psychology, but also has biological underpinnings and can be influenced by such hormonal interventions and surgery. While the numbers of those with gender dysphoria is small (~0.6% - 1.0% of population), the attention given to this issue raises the possibility of biological and psychological environmental factors impacting the emergence of some of those expressing gender dysphoria. Furthermore, transitioning from male-to-female or female-to-male can have consequences regarding disease risks latter in life, including the appearance of autoimmune diseases. This review will attempt to review some of the evidence regarding sex determination, discuss why the system has potentially not been improved upon during evolution, how a potential role for sex chromosome function on neurodevelopment may be central to variation in humans, and how commitment to the current strategy is likely integrated into other sex-related events such as puberty, pregnancy, and menopause to ensure species survival. It will also discuss how variants in sex determination could contribute to sex differences in disease risk and how epigenetic modifications could play a role in such risk. .

Clinical and biological relevance of flow cytometric determination of P-glycoprotein expression in acute non-lymphocytic leukemia

This study was supported by grants from Science and Technology Committee of Jiangsu and Health Bureau of Jiangsu. Objective To evaluate the characteristics of P glycoprotein(P gp) expression of acute non lymphocytic leukemia (ANLL) at different status and the prognostic and biological features in ANLL at diagnosis. Methods Monoclonal antibody UIC2 and indirect immunofluorescence assay by flow cytometry were used to determine P gp expression of 169 patients with ANLL, including 152 previously untreated, 7 refractory and 10 at remission. Results P gp was expressed in 28.9% of the previously untreated ANLL cases and P gp was lower than that in 71.4% of the refractory cases (P<0.05). No P gp expression was found in the patients at remission. For previously untreated ANLL, P gp was highly expressed in hybrid acute leukemia (66.7%) and acute monoblastic leukemia (47.4%). P gp expression was highly associated with surface markers [cluster of differentiation (CD) 34, CD7, CD14, CD42b and CD61] and unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities. About 23% of P gp +ANLL obtained complete remission, which was significantly lower than that (76%) in P gp - cases. Conclusions P gp expression is higher in refractory ANLL cases than that in cases at diagnosis or at remission. P gp is an index of poor prognosis in adults with ANLL. P gp +ANLL cases have unique clinical and biological characteristics.