EFFECTS OF MEDICINAL MOXIBUSTION ON SERUM GASTRIN,URINARY D-XYLOSE EXCRETORY RATE AND T CELL SUBGROUPS IN SPLEEN DEFICIENCY PATIENTS

The medicinal moxa stick made by moxa wool combining with Chinese medicines of supporting the body resistance and strengthening the spleen was used to treat 74 cases of spleen deficiency, the other 41 patients as control were treated by pure moxa stick. After treatment, the serum gastrin, urinary D - xylose excretory rate and T cell subgroups in patients with spleen deficiency have been greatly improved as compared with those before treatment in two groups (P< 0.01 or 0.05). Comparing the changes of the indexes between treatment group and control group, there were significant(P<0.05), or markedly significant(P<0.01) differences. It indicated that the medicinal moxibustion could improve the secreting and absorbing functions of digestive tract and the cellular immune function in patients with spleen deficiency.

Xylose: absorption, fermentation, and post-absorptive metabolism in the pig

Xylose, as β-1,4-linked xylan, makes up much of the hemicel ulose in cel wal s of cereal carbohydrates fed to pigs. As inclusion of fibrous ingredients in swine diets continues to increase, supplementation of carbohydrases, such as xylanase,is of interest. However, much progress is warranted to achieve consistent enzyme efficacy, including an improved understanding of the utilization and energetic contribution of xylanase hydrolysis product（i.e. xylooligosaccharides or monomeric xylose）. This review examines reports on xylose absorption and metabolism in the pig and identifies gaps in this knowledge that are essential to understanding the value of carbohydrase hydrolysis products in the nutrition of the pig. Xylose research in pigs was first reported in 1954, with only sporadic contributions since. Therefore, this review also discusses relevant xylose research in other monogastric species, including humans. In both pigs and poultry, increasing purified D-xylose inclusion general y results in linear decreases in performance, efficiency, and diet digestibility. However,supplementation levels studied thus far have ranged from 5% to 40%, while theoretical xylose release due to xylanase supplementation would be less than 4%. More than 95% of ingested D-xylose disappears before the terminal ileum but mechanisms of absorption have yet to be ful y elucidated. Some data support the hypothesis that mechanisms exist to handle low xylose concentrations but become overwhelmed as luminal concentrations increase. Very little is known about xylose metabolic utilization in vertebrates but it is wel recognized that a large proportion of dietary xylose appears in the urine and significantly decreases the metabolizable energy available from the diet. Nevertheless, evidence of labeled D-xylose-1-^（14）C appearing as expired^（14）CO_2 in both humans and guinea pigs suggests that there is potential,although small, for xylose oxidation. It is yet to be determined if pigs develop increased xylose metabolic capacity with increased adaptation time to diets supplemented with xylose or xylanase. Overall, xylose appears to be poorly utilized by the pig, but it is important to consider that only one study has been reported which supplemented D-xylose dietary concentrations lower than 5%. Thus, more comprehensive studies testing xylose metabolic effects at dietary concentrations more relevant to swine nutrition are warranted.

Effects of Mutagenesis by UV Irradiation and ^(60)Co-γ Irradiation on Fermentation of Xylose to Ethanol by Pichia stipitis

ln this study, effects of UV irradiation and 60Co-γ irradiation on fermenta-tion of xylose to ethanol by Pichia stipitis were analyzed to investigate the optimal mutagenic conditions. According to the growth curve and fermentation curve of P. stipi-tis, the optimal incubation duration and fermentation duration of P. stipitis mutant strain were 18 and 48 h, respectively. The cel concentration of original yeast liquid was 107 cel s/ml. After mutagenesis by UV irradiation and 60Co-γ irradiation, yeast liquid was incubated in 20 g/L xylose media for 48 h. According to the results, after UV irradiation for 45-75 s, transformation efficiency reached 0.3794 g/g, which was 74.39% of the theoretical value; after irradiation with 800-1 000 Gy 60Co-γ, transforma-tion efficiency reached 0.3165 g/g, which was 62.06% of the theoretical value. Therefore, both UV irradiation and 60Co-γ irradiation could improve the efficiency of xylose fermentation to ethanol by P. stipitis under appropriate conditions.

Improved Ethanol Production from Xylose by Candida shehatae Induced by Dielectric Barrier Discharge Air Plasma

Xylose fermentation is essential for ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. Exposure of the xylose-fermenting yeast Candida shehatae （C. shehatae） CICC1766 to atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） air plasma yields a clone （designated as C81015） with stability, which exhibits a higher ethanol fermentation rate from xylose, giving a maximal enhancement in ethanol production of 36.2% compared to the control （untreated）. However, the biomass production of C81015 is lower than that of the control. Analysis of the NADH （nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide）- and NADPH （nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate）- linked xylose reductases and NAD＋-linked xylitol dehydrogenase indicates that their activities are enhanced by 34.1%, 61.5% and 66.3%, respectively, suggesting that the activities of these three enzymes are responsible for improving ethanol fermentation in C81015 with xylose as a substrate. The results of this study show that DBD air plasma could serve as a novel and effective means of generating microbial strains that can better use xylose for ethanol fermentation.

Dehydration of xylose to furfural over niobium phosphate catalyst in biphasic solvent system

Phosphoric acid treated niobic acid(NbP)was used for the dehydration of xylose to furfural in biphasic solvent system,which was found to exhibit the best performance among the tested catalysts.The excellent performance of NbP could be explained by the better synergistic cooperation between Bro¨nsted and Lewis acid sites.Moreover,NbP showed good stability and no obvious deactivation or leaching of Nb could be observed after six continuous recycles.

Kinetics of Non-catalyzed Decomposition of D-xylose in High Temperature Liquid Water

The kinetics of non-catalyzed decompositions of xylose and its decomposition product furfural in high temperature liquid water （HTLW） was studied for temperature from 180 to 220℃ and under pressure of 10MPa. The main products of xylose decomposition were furfural and formic acid, and furfural further degraded to formic acid under HTLW condition. With the assumption of first order kinetics e.quation, the evaluated activation energy of xylose and furfural decomposition was 123.27kJ·mol^-1 and 58.84kJ·mol^-1, respectively.

Predisposing factors for positive D-Xylose breath test for evaluation of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth:A retrospective study of 932 patients

AIM: To investigate, in the largest cohort to date, patient characteristics and associated risk factors for developing small intestinal bacterial overgrowth(SIBO) using the D-Xylose breath test(XBT).METHODS: We performed a retrospective crosssectional study to analyze patient characteristics who underwent the XBT for evaluation of SIBO. Diagnostic testing with the XBT was performed based on a clinical suspicion for SIBO in patients with symptoms of bloating, abdominal pain, abdominal distension, weight loss, diarrhea, and/or constipation. Consecutive electronicmedical records of 932 patients who completed the XBT at the University of Florida between 2005 and 2009 were reviewed. A two-way Analysis of Variance(ANOVA) was used to test for several associations including age, gender, and body mass index(BMI) with a +XBT. A two-way ANOVA was also performed to control for the differences and interaction with age and between genders. A similar analysis was repeated for BMI. Associations between medical conditions and prior surgical histories were conducted using the Mantel-Haenszel method for 2 by 2 contingency tables, stratified for gender. Reported odds ratio estimates reflect the odds of the prevalence of a condition within the +XBT group to that of the-XBT group. P values of less than 0.05(two-sided) were considered statistically significant.RESULTS: In the 932 consecutive eligible subjects studied, 513 had a positive XBT. A positive association was found between female gender and a positive XBT(P = 0.0025), and females with a positive test were, on average, greater than 5 years older than those with a negative test(P = 0.024). The mean BMI of positive XBT subjects was normal(24.5) and significantly lower than the subjects with a negative XBT(29.5)(P = 0.0050). A positive XBT was associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease(GERD)(OR = 1.35; 95%CI: 1.02-1.80, P = 0.04), peptic ulcer disease(PUD)(OR = 2.61; 95%CI: 1.48-4.59, P < 0.01), gastroparesis(GP)(OR = 2.04; 95%CI: 1.21-3.41, P < 0.01) and steroid use(OR = 1.35; 95%CI: 1.02-1.80, P = 0.01). Irritable bowel syndrome, independent protonpump inhibitor(PPI) usage, or previous abdominal surgery was not significantly associated with a positive XBT. No single subdivision by gender or PPI use was associated with a significant difference in the odds ratios between any of the subsets. CONCLUSION: Female gender, lower BMI, steroid use, PUD, GERD(independent of PPI use), and GP were more prevalent in patients with SIBO, determined by a positive XBT. Increasing age was associated with SIBO in females, but not in males.

Optimization of L(+)-Lactic Acid Production from Xylose with Rhizopus Oryzae Mutant RLC41-6 Breeding by Low-Energy Ion Implantation

In order to obtain an industrial strain with a higher L（＋）-lactic acid yield, the strain Rhizopus oryzae PW352 was mutated by means of nitrogen ion beam implantation and the mutant strain Rhizopus oryzae RLC41-6 was obtained. An experimental finding was made in surprise that Rhizopus oryzae mutant RLC41-6 is not only an L（＋）-lactic acid producer from corn starch but also an efficient producer of L（＋）-lactic acid from xylose. Under optimal conditions, the production of L（＋）-lactic acid from 100 g/L xylose reached 77.39 g/L after 144 h fed-batch fermentation, A high mutation rate and a wide mutation spectrum of low-energy ion implantation were observed in the experiment.

One-pot cascade conversion of xylose to furfuryl alcohol over a bifunctional Cu/SBA-15-SO3H catalyst

The conversion of hemicellulose-derived xylose to furfuryl alcohol is a practical procedure for producing value-added chemicals from biomass.In this study,a bifunctional Cu/SBA-15-SO3 H catalyst was employed for the one-pot catalytic conversion of xylose to furfuryl alcohol with a yield of up to 62.6% at the optimized conditions of 140℃,4 MPa,and for 6 h in a biphasic water/n-butanol solvent.A high reaction temperature resulted in further hydrogenation to 2-methyl furan,while a high hydrogen pressure led to a side hydrogenation reaction to xylitol.The biphasic solvent allowed xylose solvation as well as furfuryl product extraction.The acidic-SO3 H sites and Cu sites co-existed,maintained a balance,and cooperatively catalyzed the cascade conversion.Excessive acidic sites and large pores could promote the xylose conversion,although a low furfuryl alcohol yield was obtained.This catalytic system could be potentially applied to the one-pot synthesis of furfuryl alcohol from hemicellulose-derived xylose.

Enhancement of Simultaneous Xylose and Glucose Utilization by Regulating ZWF1 and PGI1 in Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

Xylose utilization is one of the key issues in lignocellulose bioconversion. Because of glucose repression, in most engineered yeast with heterogeneous xylose metabolic pathway, xylose is not consumed until glucose is completely utilized. Although simultaneous glucose and xylose utilization have been achieved in yeast by RPE1 deletion, we regulated ZWF1 and PGI1 transcription to improve simultaneous xylose and glucose utilization by controlling the metabolic flux from glucose into the PP pathway. Xylose and glucose consumption increased by approximately 80 and 72%, respectively, whereas ZWF1 was overexpressed by multi-copy plasmids with a strong transcriptional promoter. PGI1 expression was knocked down by promoter replacement; the glucose and xylose metabolism increased when PGI1p was replaced by weak promoters, SSA1p and PDA1p. ZWF1 overexpression decreased while PGI1 down-regulation increased the ethanol yield to some extent in the recombinant strains. © 2017, The Author(s).

Glycine-extended gastrin activates two independent tyrosine-kinases in upstream of p85/p110 phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase in human colonic tumour cells

AIM： To investigate whether Src, JAK2 and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase （PI3K） pathways are involved in the proliferation of human colonic tumour cells induced by glycine-extended gastrin （G-gly）, the precursor of the mature amidated gastrin and to elucidate the molecular interaction between these three kinases in response to this peptide. METHODS： Using the human colonic tumour cell line HCT116 as a model, we first measured the activation of PI3K, p60-Src and JAK2 in response to G-gly by in vitro kinase assays. Then we investigated the involvement of these kinases in G-gly-induced cell proliferation by MTT test. RESULTS： G-gly stimulation induced p60-Src, JAK2 and PI3K activation in HCT116. The different pathways were involved in proliferation of human colon cancer cells induced by G-gly. Furthermore, we found that both Src and JAK2 were necessary to PI3K regulation by this peptide. However, we did not find any cross-talk between the two tyrosine kinases. CONCLUSION： Our results suggest that the p60-Src/ PI3K and JAK2/PI3K pathways act independently to mediate G-gly proliferative effect on human colonic tumour cells.

The Effect of pH Control on Acetone-Butanol—Ethanol Fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824 with Xylose and D-Glucose and D-Xylose Mixture

D-Glucose, L-arabinose, D-mannose, D-xylose, and cellobiose are saccharification products of lignocellulose and important carbon sources for industrial fermentation. The fermentation efficiency with each of the five sugars and the mixture of the two most dominant sugars, D-glucose and D-xylose, was evaluated for acetone- butanol-ethanol （ABE） fermentation by Clostridium acetobutylicum ATCC 824. The utilization efficacy of the five reducing sugars was in the order of D-glucose, L-arabinose, D-mannose, o-xylose and cellobiose, o-Xylose, the second most abundant component in lignocellulosic hydrolysate, was used in the fermentation either as sole carbon source or mixed with glucose. The results indicated that maintaining pH at 4.8, the optimal pH value for solventogenesis, could increase D-xylose consumption when it was the sole carbon source. Different media con- taining D-glucose and D-xylose at different ratios （1：2, 1：5, 1.5：1, 2：1 ） were then attempted for the ABE fermenta- tion. When pH was at 4.8 and xylose concentration was five times that of glucose, a 256.9% increase in xylose utilization and 263.7% increase in solvent production were obtained compared to those without pH control. These results demonstrate a possible approach combining optimized pH control and D-glucose and D-xylose ratio to increase the fermentation efficiency of lignocellulosic hydrolysate.

Preliminary Characterization of Xylose Reductase Partially Purified by Reversed Micelles from <i>Candida tropicalis</i>IEC5-ITV, an Indigenous Xylitol-Producing Strain

Xylose reductase (EC 1.1.1.21) of Candida tropicalis IEC5-ITV, an indigenous xylitol-producing strain, was partially purified by reversed micelles and characterized, an 8.1 fold purification factor being obtained. The XR present in the crude extract exhibited its highest specific activity at pH 6.0 and 40℃, while in that obtained by reverse micelles, this occurs at pH 6.0 and 30℃. XR before and after extraction is stable within a range of 30 to 40℃, pH 7 after one hour of incubation under these conditions. After two months’storage at –18℃, the enzyme obtained by reverse micelles lost 76.60% specific activity. The estimated molecular weight by PAGE-SDS was 32.42 kD. KM for xylose was higher for the XR extracted by reverse micelles (0.026 M) than that obtained for the enzyme before extraction (0.0059 M), while KM for cofactor NADPH was lower after than before extraction (1.85 mM to 12.0 mM respectively). There was no activity with NADH as a cofactor. Variations in pH and temperature optima, as well as kinetic parameters before and after partial XR purification by reverse micelles are probably due to an alteration in enzyme molecule structure caused by the solvents used during extraction.

Kinetics of xylose dehydration into furfural in acetic acid

In this paper kinetics of xylose dehydration into furfural using acetic acid as catalyst was studied comprehensively and systematically. The reaction order of both furfural and xylose dehydration was determined and the reaction activation energy was obtained by nonlinear regression. The effect of acetic acid concentration was also investi- gated. Reaction rate constants were gained. Reaction rate constant of xylose dehydration is kl = 4.189 × 10^10[A]^0.1676 axp （-108.5×1000/RT）, reaction rate constant of furfural degradation is k2=1.271×10^10[A]0.1375 exp （-63.413×1000/RT）and reaction rate constant of condensation reaction is k3-3.4051×10^10[A]0.1676 exp （-104.99×1000/RT）, Based on this, the kinetics equation of xylose dehydration into furfural in acetic acid was set up according to theory of Dunlop and Furfural generating rate equation is d[F]/dt=K1[x]0e-k1t-k2[F]-k3[X]0E-k1 1[F]

ETHANOL FERMENTATION OF MIXED GLUCOSE AND XYLOSE BY PICHIA STIPITIS

Pichia stipitis CBS 5773 yeast cells were used to ferment the mixed substrates consisted of glucose andxylose to produce ethanol.The effects of aeration rate,initial substrate concentration and pH on substrateutilization and ethanol yield were evaluated.During batch fermentation,the oscillation phenomena in cell growthwere observed at low aeration rate,whereas the diauxic growth at high aeration rate.The substrate utilizationratio and ethanol yield reached 95％ and 0.46g/g respectively under appropriate operation conditions.Amodified unstructural model was proposed to simulate the diauxic cell growth,substrate consumption andproduct formation.

Effect of Dissolved Oxygen and Inoculum Concentration on Xylose Reductase Production from <i>Candida guilliermondii</i>Using Sugarcane Bagasse Hemicellulosic Hydrolysate

This work evaluated the effect of dissolved oxygen and the initial inoculum concentration on xylose reductase (XR) production by Candida guilliermondii from sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate. Both the parameters were studied under an experimental design 22 with triplicate at central point. The statistical analysis of the results indicated a significant negative effect on XR production from the variable inoculum. The variable dissolved oxygen also showed a negative effect on XR production. We found the maximum enzyme activity (2.5 U?mg?1) when both the factors were applied at their lowest levels. The yeast showed to be potentially capable for xylose reductase production when sugarcane bagasse hemicellulosic hydrolysate was used as carbon source. Also, the results presented important information for further optimization of xylose reductase attainment.

Development on ethanol production from xylose by recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Xylose is the second major fermentable sugar present in lignocellulosic hydrolysates, so its fermentation is essential for the economic con- version of lignocellulose to ethanol. However, the traditional ethanol production strain Sacch- aromyces cerevisiae does not naturally use xy-lose as a substrate. A number of different ap-proaches have been used to engineer yeasts to reconstruct the gene background of S. cerevi- siae in recent years. The recombinant strains showed better xylose fermentation quality by comparison with the natural strains. This review examines the research on S. cerevisiae strains that have been genetically modified or adapted to ferment xylose to ethanol from three aspects including construction of xylose transportation, xylose-metabolic pathway and inhibitor toler-ance improvement of S. cerevisiae.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Temperature-dependent Flexibility of Thermophilic Xylose Isomerase

The complex model of Thermus thermophilus xylose isomerase （TtXI） with D-xylose was constructed, and molecular dynamics （MD） simulations were carried out at 300 and 360 K for 10 ns by NAMD2.5. The radius of gyration （Rg）, subunit interactions, and residue flexibility were analyzed. The results show that residues 60-69, 142-148, 169-172, and 332-340 have high flexibility at 300 and 360 K. Residues with higher flexibility at 360 K than that at 300 K can mainly be divided into two groups： one locates in the helix-loophelix region consisting of residues 55-80 in catalytic domain; the other at subunit interfaces. The Rg of catalytic domain at 360 K shows 0.16 A higher than that at 300 K, but Rg of small C-terminal domain has no obvious difference. The results indicate that enhanced Rg of catalytic domain may lead to the intense motion of the active site of TtXI and promote the D-xylose isomization reaction. Eight hydrogen bonds and five ion pairs are reduced at subunit interfaces at 360 K compared with 300 K, that may be the main reason for the decrease in rigidity and increase in activity at high temperature of TtXI. This result also help to explain the cold-adaption phenomenon of TtXI E372G mutant reported previously. Our results reveal the relationship between temperature and structure flexibility of TtXI, and play an important role in understanding the thermostability of thermophile protein with multiple subunits.

Synthesis of New Thiazine and Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives from D-Xylose

1,2-O-Isopropylidene-5-O-p-toluenesulfonyl-α-D-erythro-pentofuranos-3-ulose 1 was treated with thiourea and aminothiourea to give a D-ribose derivative 2 bearing a 2-amino 1,3-thiazine ring and a thiosemicarbazone derivative 5, respectively. 2 was acylated with Ac20 and propandioic acid to afford two acylation derivatives 3 and 4, respectively. Reduction of 5 with NaBH4 in methanol produced a hydrothiosemicarbazone derivative 6. The absolute configuration of 2 was confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis. The structures of all products were elucidated by IR, NMR and HRMS spectra.

Helicobacter pylori infection, gastrin and cyclooxygenase-2 in gastric carcinogenesis

Gastric cancer is one of the most frequent neoplasms and a main cause of death worldwide, especially in China and Japan. Numerous epidemiological, animal and experimental studies support a positive association between chronic Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) infection and the development of gastric cancer. However, the exact mechanism whereby H. pylori causes gastric carcinogenesis remains unclear. It has been demonstrated that expression of cyclooxygenase-2(COX-2) is elevated in gastric carcinomas and in their precursor lesions. In this review, we present the latest clinical and experimental evidence showing the role of gastrin and COX-2 in H. pylori-infected patients and their possible association with gastric cancer risk.