THE BI DIRECTIONAL REGULATION OF FILAMIN ON THE ATPase ACTIVITY OF SMOOTH MUSCLE MYOSIN

The aim of this study is to investigate the functional relationship between filamin, a known actin binding protein, and myosin and the effects of filamin on the interaction between myosin and actin. Methods.Ultra centrifugation method was used to investigate the binding of filamin to both phosphorylated and unphosphorylated myosins. Mg ATPase activities of both phosphorylated and unphosphorylated myosins in the presence and absence of actin were measured to observe the effects resulted from filamin actin and filamin myosin interactions. Results. It was found that filamin is also a myosin binding protein. Filamin inhibited the actin activated Mg ATPase activity of phosphorylated myosin and stimulated Mg ATPase of phosphorylated myosin in the absence of actin; in addition, filamin stimulated Mg ATPase activity of unphosphorylated myosin in both the presence or absence of actin. Conclusion. The results suggest that the effects of filamin on the myosin Mg ATPase activities are bi directional, i.e., stimulatory via binding to myosin and inhibitory via binding to actin.

Correlation between receptor-interacting protein 140 expression and directed differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into neural stem cells

Overexpression of receptor-interacting protein 140（RIP140） promotes neuronal differentiation of N2 a cells via extracellular regulated kinase 1/2（ERK1/2） signaling.However,involvement of RIP140 in human neural differentiation remains unclear.We found both RIP140 and ERK1/2 expression increased during neural differentiation of H1 human embryonic stem cells.Moreover,RIP140 negatively correlated with stem cell markers Oct4 and Sox2 during early stages of neural differentiation,and positively correlated with the neural stem cell marker Nestin during later stages.Thus,ERK1/2 signaling may provide the molecular mechanism by which RIP140 takes part in neural differentiation to eventually affect the number of neurons produced.

Ammonia Emissions in EuropemCosts, Regulation and Targets with Focus on Denmark

The NEC （National Emission Ceiling） directive has set targets for the 2010 ammonia emissions from a number of European countries. The target will be reached by most EU-countries and the total emission for EU-27 has been reduced by 22% from 1990 to 2007. Denmark is one of the countries with the largest reductions since 1990 and the article aims at the measures and costs involved. The conclusion is that the costs have been under 3ε per kg NH3-N. Measures in several countries are under 5ε per kg NH3-N, which is a likely minimum for the benefits of reducing NH3-N. The findings suggest that the same measures might be cheaper in the Netherlands and Denmark than in the UK and the USA due to technology advances and stricter regulations in the past. The new Danish application procedure, when increasing the animal production, has tried to make the acceptance procedure quicker and dynamic ensuring that new technology is adopted quicker and that the farm has the right location. It is concluded that the new application process so far has not lived up to the high expectations at the outset. Despite this, the paper concludes that Denmark is likely to reduce emission by 50% from 1990 to 2020 and reach the likely 2020 NEC ceiling.

Provisional Regulations on Directing Foreign Investment

Article 1 These regulations are formulated according to the rules of the State Law on foreign investment and the requirements of industrial policies to direct foreign investment, ensuring that it adapts to the programmes of China’s national economy and social development and protecting the legal rights and interests of investors.

Direct adaptive regulation of unknown nonlinear systems with analysis of the model order problem

A new method for the direct adaptive regulation of unknown nonlinear dynamical systems is proposed in this paper,paying special attention to the analysis of the model order problem.The method uses a neurofuzzy (NF) modeling of the unknown system,which combines fuzzy systems (FSs) with high order neural networks (HONNs).We propose the approximation of the unknown system by a special form of an NF-dynamical system (NFDS),which,however,may assume a smaller number of states than the original unknown model.The omission of states,referred to as a model order problem,is modeled by introducing a disturbance term in the approximating equations.The development is combined with a sensitivity analysis of the closed loop and provides a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the stability properties.An adaptive modification method,termed ‘parameter hopping’,is incorporated into the weight estimation algorithm so that the existence and boundedness of the control signal are always assured.The applicability and potency of the method are tested by simulations on well known benchmarks such as ‘DC motor’ and ‘Lorenz system’,where it is shown that it performs quite well under a reduced model order assumption.Moreover,the proposed NF approach is shown to outperform simple recurrent high order neural networks (RHONNs).

Gut Microbiota Brings a Novel Way to Illuminate Mechanisms of Natural Products in vivo

Poor bioavailability and undefined major/direct targets are two major obstacles for herbal medicines and natural products（NPs） to elucidate their precise mechanisms in vivo. Gut microbiota is an important bridge between eukayotic body and environment, which can interact with a majority of medicines with poor bioavailability and mediate their in vivo pharmacological activities. There are two main modes through which gut microbiota may mediate the pharmacological effects of NPs. First, gut microbiota catabolizes the NPs in herbal medicines into secondary metabolites with higher bioavialability and/or higher activity, facilitating the NPs enter circulation and exert beneficial impact at the pathological spot. Second, herbal medicines and NPs can favorably shift the compositional structure of gut microbiota, thereby performing remote functions to diseased organs/tissues via the systemic impaction of gut microbiota. In this review, the potential pathways were summarized through which gut microbes facilitate the pharmacological functions of herbal medicines and NPs and highlight the significance of gut microbiota in clarifying the in vivo mechanisms of herbal medicines and NPs.