Co-expression of the Arabidopsis SOS genes enhances salt tolerance in transgenic tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.).

Crop productivity is greatly affected by soil salinity; therefore, improvement in salinity tolerance of crops is a major goal in salt-tolerant breeding. The Salt Overly Sensitive (SOS) signal-transduction pathway plays a key role in ion homeostasis and salt tolerance in plants. Here, we report that overexpression of Arabidopsis thaliana SOS1+SOS2+SOS3 genes enhanced salt tolerance in tall fescue.

[Neuroprotective effects of learning on glutamate-induced neuronal damage in rat hippocampus].

Aim: To investigate the neuroprotective effect of learning on glutamate-induced neuronal damage.

Methods: SD rats were intraperitoneally injected with monosodium glutamate (MSG) during the period of 3-9 days after born, and were trained to find their food by light-dark discrimination at 1 month old or 2 months old. At 3 months old, all rats were killed and their brains were taken out and cut into sections and ultrathin sections.

[Effects of fluvastatin on the levels of C-reactive protein and lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia].

Objective: To observe the changes of C-reactive protein (CRP) level and its relationship with blood lipids, and the effects of fluvastatin on CRP and the lipids in patients with hyperlipidemia.

Methods: Serum levels of cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C) and lipoprotein(a)[Lp(a)] were measured by enzyme assay, and plasma CRP level by immunonephelometry before and after fluvastatin treatment (20 mg/d for 4 weeks) in patients with hyperlipidemia.

Results: CRP levels were above normal in 90.

[Coagulative and fibrinolytic changes in patients with essential hypertension and the effect of sustained-release nifedipine].

Objective: To investigate the changes of coagulation and fibrinolysis status in patients with essential hypertension (EH) and observe the therapeutic effect of sustained-release nifedipine.

Methods: Ninety-nine EH patients were divided according to their diastolic blood pressure (DBP) into mild group (48 cases), moderate group (29 cases) and severe group (22 cases), and 25 patients among the groups were chosen at random to receive sustained-release nifedipine for 2 weeks. Twenty healthy subjects served as control group.