Microbes as a production host to produce natural activecompounds from mushrooms: biosynthetic pathway elucidationand metabolic engineering.

Mushrooms are abundant in bioactive natural compounds. Due to strict growth conditions and long fermentation-time, microbe as a production host is an alternative and sustainable approach for the production of natural compounds. This review focuses on the biosynthetic pathways of mushroom originated natural compounds and microbes as the production host for the production of the above natural compounds.

Benzene exposure-response and risk of lymphoid neoplasms in Chinese workers: A multicenter case-cohort study.

Background: While international agreement supports a causal relationship of benzene exposure with acute myeloid leukemia, there is debate about benzene and lymphoid neoplasm risks.

Methods: In a case-cohort study with follow-up of 110 631 Chinese workers during 1972-1999, we evaluated benzene exposure-response for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), lymphoid leukemias (LL), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and total lymphoid neoplasms (LN). We estimated benzene exposures using state-of-the-art hierarchical modeling of occupational factors calibrated with historical routine measurements and evaluated cumulative exposure-response using Cox regression.

Benzene Exposure Response and Risk of Myeloid Neoplasms in Chinese Workers: A Multicenter Case-Cohort Study.

Background: There is international consensus that benzene exposure is causally related to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and more recent evidence of association with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). However, there are uncertainties about the exposure response, particularly risks by time since exposure and age at exposure.

Methods: In a case-cohort study in 110 631 Chinese workers followed up during 1972-1999 we evaluated combined MDS/AML (n = 44) and chronic myeloid leukemia (n = 18).

Transcripts of antibacterial peptides in chicken erythrocytes infected with Marek's disease virus.

Background: Chicken erythrocytes are involved in immunity through binding of toll-like receptors (TLRs) with their ligands to activate downstream signaling and lead to cytokine production in erythrocytes. Some avian β-defensins (AvBDs) are constitutively expressed in tissues and some others can be induced by various bacteria and viruses. However, the expression of AvBDs in erythrocytes has not yet been studied extensively.

Adductomic signatures of benzene exposure provide insights into cancer induction.

Although benzene has long been recognized as a cause of human leukemia, the mechanism by which this simple molecule causes cancer has been problematic. A complicating factor is benzene metabolism, which produces many reactive intermediates, some specific to benzene and others derived from redox processes. Using archived serum from 20 nonsmoking Chinese workers, 10 with and 10 without occupational exposure to benzene (exposed: 3.

Current Status of Standardization of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China.

As an important component of traditional medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is widely spread and applied in more than 100 countries across the world. The standardization of TCM is very important for the international application of Chinese medicine. In this paper, we have explained and analyzed the standardization situations of TCM in China with the purpose of providing reference for standardization and international development of TCM.

Retrospective benzene exposure assessment for a multi-center case-cohort study of benzene-exposed workers in China.

Quality of exposure assessment has been shown to be related to the ability to detect risk of lymphohematopoietic disorders in epidemiological investigations of benzene, especially at low levels of exposure. We set out to build a statistical model for reconstructing exposure levels for 2898 subjects from 501 factories that were part of a nested case-cohort study within the NCI-CAPM cohort of more than 110,000 workers. We used a hierarchical model to allow for clustering of measurements by factory, workshop, job, and date.

A retrospective cohort study of cause-specific mortality and incidence of hematopoietic malignancies in Chinese benzene-exposed workers.

Benzene exposure has been causally linked with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but inconsistently associated with other hematopoietic, lymphoproliferative and related disorders (HLD) or solid tumors in humans. Many neoplasms have been described in experimental animals exposed to benzene. We used Poisson regression to estimate adjusted relative risks (RR) and the likelihood ratio statistic to derive confidence intervals for cause-specific mortality and HLD incidence in 73,789 benzene-exposed compared with 34,504 unexposed workers in a retrospective cohort study in 12 cities in China.

Development and validation of an attenuated Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae aerosol vaccine.

Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyopneumoniae) causes a chronic respiratory disease with high morbidity and low mortality in swine, and has been presented as a major cause of growth retardation in the swine industry. Aerosol vaccination presents a needle free, high throughput, and efficient platform for vaccine delivery, and has been widely applied in poultry vaccination.

[Discussion on necessity of standardization for nomenclature and location of extraordinary acupoints].

With retrieval of articles on extraordinary acupoint that were published in domesticin recent five years, one hundred and eight articles of clinical application are screened out and one hundred and twenty-three extraordinary acupoints that are extensively recognized are collected. Of those acupoints, 23 acupoints are included in the latest national standard. Of the rest 100 extraordinary acupoints, 48 acupoints are located on the running courses of fourteen meridians, 4 acupoints are shared with the meridian points and the other 52 acupoints have not been clarified to be located on the running courses of meridians based on the literature data.

[Current situation of the standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion in Taiwan].

The current situation of the standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion in the Taiwan region is introduced in this paper from the three aspects, named the development state of standard of acupuncture and moxibustion in Taiwan, the implementation of Taiwan district standard and the standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion in Taiwan. At present, the relevant standards of acupuncture and moxibustion in Taiwan just include the standard operation procedure of acupuncture and moxibustion, the reference guideline of the safe operation in the medical service centers of traditional Chinese medicine, and the faculty standard of Chinese medicine hospital, etc. It is concluded that the current situation of the standardization of acupuncture and moxibusiton presented the weak awareness of the standardization of acupuncture and moxibustion in the industry, insufficient enterprise standard, less-quantity of the implemented standards and narrow coverage.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of argininosuccinate lyase from Streptococcus mutans.

Argininosuccinate lyase (ASL) is an important enzyme in arginine synthesis and the urea cycle, which are highly conserved from bacteria to eukaryotes. The gene encoding Streptococcus mutans ASL (smASL) was amplified and cloned into expression vector pET28a. The recombinant smASL protein was expressed in a soluble form in Escherichia coli strain BL21 (DE3) and purified to homogeneity by two-step column chromatography.

[Study on Chinese herb Astragalus membranceus by FTIR fingerprint].

Unlabelled: The aim of the study is to find new approach to identifying different growth years and different producing areas of astragalus membranceus simply and rapidly. The FTIR spectrometry, which is accurate, simple and efficient and has high resolution, was used to obtain the sample's FTIR spectrometry. After simple separation and extraction, the drying powder of the sample was detected.

[Debating some issues on the national standard Standardized Manipulation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, part 3: Auricular Acupuncture].

The main difficulties and disputable problems on develping the national standard Standardized Manipulation of Acupuncture and Moribustion, Part 3: Auricular Acupuncture are debated in this paper from the three aspects of its meaning, scientific basis and key point. The difficult points mainly include manipulation standandization of auricular acupuncture, basis and science of the standards stipulated, selection of technical terms and definition, and why only the four kinds of manipulations are used for auricular acupuncture. Finally, the authors suggest that the Standardized Manipulation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Part 3: Auricular Acupuncture needs further to be studied and improved.

[Approach to some problems in the national standard Standardized Manipulation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Part IV, Three-Edged Needle].

Main difficulties and problems in working out the national standard Manipulation Standardization of Acupuncture and Moribustion Techniques for Three-edged Needle are discussed. The difficult points include selection of technical terms; standardization and characteristics of Chinese medicine; quantification of bleeding amount in three-edged needle therapy; basis and science of the standards stipulated. The problems that need further be studied and perfected for Manipulation Standardization of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Techniques for Three-edged Needle are put forward in the present paper.

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of three dUTPases from Gram-positive bacteria.

All organisms examined to date possess a dUTPase that performs the important function of efficiently hydrolyzing dUTP to dUMP in order to prevent the incorporation of dUTP into DNA. Three putative dUTPases from Gram-positive bacteria have been studied in this work. Two dUTPase-encoding genes, yncF and yosS, have been identified in Bacillus subtilis.

Open-closed conformational change revealed by the crystal structures of 3-keto-L-gulonate 6-phosphate decarboxylase from Streptococcus mutans.

The 3-keto-L-gulonate 6-phosphate decarboxylase (KGPDC) catalyses the decarboxylation of 3-keto-L-gulonate 6-phosphate to L-xylulose in the presence of magnesium ions. The enzyme is involved in L-ascorbate metabolism and plays an essential role in the pathway of glucuronate interconversion. Crystal structures of Streptococcus mutans KGPDC were determined in the absence and presence of the product analog D-ribulose 5-phosphate.

[A brief talk on characteristics of Japanese collateral puncture].

The characteristics of Japanese collateral puncture are expounded from history evolution and technical feature. The position of pricking blood and blood-letting volume for the three Japanese collateral puncture, Japanese collateral puncture at Jing-well points, at fine collaterals and at the skin are emphatically discussed and briefly compared with Chinese pricking blood therapy, so as to better develop the collateral puncture therapy.

[Summarization and analysis on acupuncture-related articles embodied in Medline data-base in 2006].

Objective: To understand the situation of studies and development of international acupuncture and moxibustion in 2006 by analysis on the acupuncture-related articles embodied in Medline data-base in 2006.

Methods: A total of 881 articles in Medline data-base of the ISI knowledge Web were retrieved by "acupuncture", "moxibustion", "acupressure" and "cupping" as key words, then 761 articles excluding unrelated 120 ones were analyzed and concluded for distribution of the article sources, periodicals source, type, research contents and methods.

Results: Most of the articles are from China, Britain and America.

[Synthesis and bioactivies of salicylic acid-g-chitosan derivatives].

To prepare the derivatives of salicylic acid-g-chitosan and study their synergistic and complementary actions, the synergism of anti-inflammatory action of the derivatives was investigated with the experiments of xylene-induces mice ear edema, the analgesic activities by the tartaric emetic-induced mice twist test and the hot-plate test, and the complementary effects between salicylic acid and chitosan through morphological changes of stomach mucous membrane of rat, separately. The anti-inflammatory activities of salicylic acid-g-chitosan derivatives for anti-inflammatory activities were more potent than that of salicylic acid and chitosan and dexamethasone cream in external use, and more potent than that of aspirin orally. However, immediate analgesic activity of the derivatives was lower than that of aspirin and persistent activity was similar as that of aspirin.

[Association between genetic polymorphisms of DNA repair genes XRCC1, XRCC3 and susceptibility to chronic benzene poisoning].

Objective: To explore the association between genetic polymorphisms of DNA repair genes XRCC1, XRCC3 and susceptibility to chronic benzene poisoning.

Methods: A case-control study was conducted. Eighty patients with chronic benzene poisoning and 62 workers occupationally exposed to benzene who were engaged in the same working time and job title as patients were investigated.

[Association of the glycophorin A gene mutation in peripheral erythrocytes and chronic benzene poisoning].

Objective: To explore the association of the glycophorin A(GPA) gene mutation in peripheral erythrocytes and chronic benzene poisoning.

Methods: Sixty-three patients with chronic benzene poisonings and 45 benzene-exposed workers who were engaged in the same job title were investigated. Fluorescence immunolabeling technique and flow cytometry were used to detect GPA mutation frequency in peripheral read blood cell.

[Study on repair capacity of DNA damage associated with chronic benzene poisoning].

Objective: To explore the repair capacity of DNA damage associated with chronic benzene poisonings.

Methods: 63 workers suffered from chronic benzene poisonings and 45 workers exposed to benzene, who were engaged in the same job title, were investigated. Comet assay and cytokinesis-block micronucleus (CBMN) detection were used to evaluate gamma-radiation-induced DNA and chromosomal damage and repair capacity in peripheral blood lymphocyte.

[Association between polymorphisms of XPD gene and susceptibility to chronic benzene poisoning].

Objective: To explore the relationship between genetic polymorphisms of XPD gene and susceptibility to chronic benzene poisoning.

Methods: A case control study was conducted. Eighty patients diagnosed with chronic benzene poisoning and 62 workers occupationally exposed to benzene who were engaged in the same working time and job title as patients were investigated.

[Effects of electroacupuncture at different frequencies on morphological changes of nervous tissues and electromyogram of skeletal muscles in the rat with injury of sciatic nerve].

Objective: To observe effects of electroacupuncture of different frequencies on morphological changes of nervous tissues and electromyogram (EMG) of skeletal muscles in regeneration,so as to find more proper parameters of electroacupuncture.

Methods: The nerve regeneration chamber was built after the sciatic nerve was transected, and acupuncture was given at "Huantiao" (GB 30) , "Zusanli" (ST 36) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6) at the affected side with different frequencies (5 Hz, 100 Hz), 30 min each time,once every other day, 3 time each week, for 20 weeks and a control group was set up for natural recovery. The nerve fibers were stained by silver dying and ultrastructures of nerve tissues were observed.