[Defensive characteristics of cones of against seed-eating animals].

During the co-evolution with animals, plants evolved different defense strategies to resist predators and ensure their own survival and reproduction. We investigated the forging preference of nutcrackers () for seeds in different parts of bending cones in Southeast Tibet. We measured the morphological characteristics (length, width, thickness, and seed hull thickness) and the physical and chemical properties of concave and convex seeds of (crude water, dry-matter at 70 ℃, crude fat, ash, protein and crude fiber).

Transplantation of betatrophin-expressing adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells induces β-cell proliferation in diabetic mice.

Recent progress in regenerative medicine has suggested that mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-based therapy is a novel potential cure for diabetes. Betatrophin is a newly identified hormone that can increase the production and expansion of insulin-secreting β-cells when administered to mice. In this study, we evaluated the effect of betatrophin overexpression by human adipose-derived MSCs (ADMSCs) by in vitro experiments, as well as following their transplantation into a mice with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes.

XRCC1 gene polymorphisms and the risk of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC): a meta-analysis of case-control studies.

Background: Previous studies investigating the association between X-ray repair cross-complementing group 1 (XRCC1) polymorphisms and thyroid cancer risk have yielded inconsistent results. This meta-analysis was performed to derive a more precise estimation of the relationship between three XRCC1 polymorphisms and thyroid cancer risk.

Methods/principal Findings: PubMed and EMBASE database were systematically searched to identify relevant studies.

[A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, parallel and multicenter study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of pioglitazone with sulphonylurea in type 2 diabetic patients].

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 30 mg pioglitazone hydrochloride combined with sulphonylurea in the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients.

Methods: A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group, multicenter study was performed. A total of 236 patients, who had fasting plasma glucose (FPG) 7.

Association of two polymorphisms within and near SOCS3 gene with obesity in three nationalities in Xinjiang province of China.

Aim: SOCS3 gene plays an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity in animal models, but the data from human studies are relatively limited. To address this issue, a genetic association analysis on nationalities with different genetic background living in the similar environmental conditions was performed.

Methods: Two thousand seven hundred eleven subjects were randomly recruited from the Kazakh, Uygur and Han nationalities in Xinjiang of China.

Serum biomarker of diabetic peripheral neuropathy indentified by differential proteomics.

At least one in four diabetic patients is affected by peripheral neuropathy. In this study, the MALDI-TOF-MS mass spectra of peptides and proteins were generated following WCX CLINPROT bead fractionation of 39 diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), 39 diabetes mellitus (DM), and 35 control (CON) serum samples. The spectra were analyzed statistically using flexAnalysisTM and Clin-ProtTM bioinformatics software.

Tumor necrosis factor-α increases angiopoietin-like protein 2 gene expression by activating Foxo1 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

Angiopoietin-like protein 2 (Angptl2) is a key adipocyte-derived inflammatory mediator linking obesity to systemic insulin resistance, which is overexpressed in obesity and related metabolic diseases. However, its regulatory mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we showed that tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α treatment increased the expression of Angptl2 gene in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.