Theoretical studies on the AnO2(n+) (An = U, Np; n = 1, 2) complexes with di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid.

Actinide separation in spent nuclear fuel reprocessing is essential for the closed nuclear fuel cycle. Organophosphorus reagents have been found to exhibit strong affinities for actinides in experiments. In this work, the extraction complexes of AnO2(n+) (An = U, Np; n = 1, 2) with the traditional organophosphorus ligand HDEHP (di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid) have been investigated using density functional theory together with scalar-relativistic effective core potentials (ECPs) for actinide elements.

Genome-wide mapping of DNase I hypersensitive sites and association analysis with gene expression in MSB1 cells.

DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) mark diverse classes of cis-regulatory regions, such as promoters and enhancers. MSB-1 derived from chicken Marek's disease (MD) lymphomas is an MDV-transformed CD4+ T-cell line for MD study. Previously, DNase I HS sites were studied mainly in human cell types for mammalian.

The influence of land use on the abundance and diversity of ammonia oxidizers.

Nitrification plays a significant role in soil nitrogen cycling, a process in which the first step can be catalyzed by ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). In this study, six soil samples with distinct land-use regimes (forestland soil, paddy soil, wheat-planted soil, fruit-planted soil, grassland soil, and rape-planted soil) were collected from Chuzhou city in the Anhui province to elucidate the effects of land use on the abundance and diversity of AOA and AOB. The abundance of the archaeal amoA gene ranged from 2.

Duodenal ferroportin is up-regulated in patients with chronic hepatitis C.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a leading cause of liver-related mortality. Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is frequently associated with disturbances in iron homeostasis, with serum iron and hepatic iron stores being elevated. Accumulating evidence indicates that chronic HCV infection suppresses expression of hepatic hepcidin, a key mediator of iron homeostasis, leading to iron overload conditions.

Female qualities in males: vitellogenin synthesis induced by ovary transplants into the male silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Female qualities in males are common in vertebrates but have not been extensively reported in insects. Vitellogenin (Vg) is highly expressed in the female fat body and is generally required for the formation of yolk proteins in the insect egg. Vg upregulation is generally regarded as a female quality in female oviparous animals.

A novel aptasensor based on MUC-1 conjugated CNSs for ultrasensitive detection of tumor cells.

A novel strategy for the quantitative determination of human colon cancer DLD-1 cells utilizing an electrochemical aptasensor was developed by effective surface recognition between Mucin 1 glycoprotein over-expressed on the cell membrane and MUC-1 aptamer (MUC-1) bound on carbon nanospheres (CNSs). An MTT assay revealed that the as-prepared CNSs by green route exhibited satisfactory biocompatibility for cell viability, providing a suitable platform for the cell adhesion study. Furthermore, using CNSs as a sensing layer accelerated electron transfer and provided a highly stable matrix for the convenient conjugation of target MUC-1 aptamer, considerably amplifying the electrochemical signals.

An electrochemical sensor for simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid, dopamine, uric acid and tryptophan based on MWNTs bridged mesocellular graphene foam nanocomposite.

A multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) bridged mesocellular graphene foam (MGF) nanocomposite (MWNTs/MGF) modified glassy carbon electrode was fabricated and successfully used for simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid (AA), dopamine (DA), uric acid (UA) and tryptophan (TRP). Comparing with pure MGF, MWNTs or MWNTs/GS (graphene sheets), MWNTs/MGF displayed higher catalytic activity and selectivity toward the oxidation of AA, DA, UA and TRP. Under the optimal conditions, MWCNs/MGF/GCE can simultaneously detect AA, DA, UA and TRP with high selectivity and sensitivity.

[Suppression of tumor growth induced by human 4-1BBL-B7-H3 gene in reconstructed immune function in severe combined immunodeficient mice].

Objective: The non-specific antitumor immunity effect of 4-1BBL-B7-H3 gene was investigated by establishing an oral squamous cell carcinoma human peripheral blood lymphocyte-severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice chimeric model.

Methods: Forty mice were randomly divided into five groups. All groups, except the non-immune reconstitution group (group D), had reconstructed human partial immune system.

The Broad Complex isoform 2 (BrC-Z2) transcriptional factor plays a critical role in vitellogenin transcription in the silkworm Bombyx mori.

Background: Vitellogenin (Vg) is synthesized in the fat body of the female silkworm Bombyx mori and transported to the oocyte as a source of nutrition for embryo development. It is well known that ecdysone regulates physiological, developmental and behavioral events in silkworm. However, it is still not clear how the ecdysone regulates B.

A real-time microfluidic multiplex electrochemical loop-mediated isothermal amplification chip for differentiating bacteria.

This report shows that loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of nucleic acid can be integrated on a laser etched indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode-based multiplex microfluidic chip for real-time quantitative differentiation of bacteria; we call this technique microfluidic multiplex electrochemical LAMP (μME-LAMP) system. Three important acute upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) related bacteria, namely Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), Haemophilus influenza (HIN), and Klebsiella pneumonia (KPN) were chosen for this study. We monitored the amplification process by measuring and analyzing the electrochemical signal of methylene blue (MB) through eight etched ITO electrochemical reactors.

Age- and gender-specific reference values for urine albumin/creatinine ratio in children of southwest China.

Background: The reference value for the urine albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) varies between races and has not been previously validated in children. We assessed the ACR reference values and the factors that affect them in a population of healthy Chinese children.

Methods: A total of 1986 healthy children (1078 males, 908 females) aged 6-19 y were enrolled.

Enhanced antitumor efficacy of integrin-targeted oncolytic adenovirus AxdAdB3-F/RGD on bladder cancer.

Objective: To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of AxdAdB-3 with Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD)-fiber modification (AxdAdB3-F/RGD), which enables integrin-dependent infection in bladder cancers.

Methods: Flow cytometric analysis was applied to evaluated adenovirus-mediated gene transduction into various cells. The cytopathic effects of AxdAdB3-F/RGD were evaluated in bladder cancer cell lines and a normal bladder mucosa-derived cell line (HCV29) with AxCAZ3-F/RGD (control) or AxdAdB-3.

A novel nonenzymatic sensor based on CuO nanoneedle/graphene/carbon nanofiber modified electrode for probing glucose in saliva.

Here, we report on a novel nonenzymatic amperometric glucose sensor based on CuO nanoneedle/graphene/carbon nanofiber modified electrode. The results of the scanning electron microscopy indicate that electronic network was formed through their direct binding with the graphene/carbon nanofiber, which leads to larger active surface areas and faster electron transfer for the glucose sensor. High electrocatalytic activity toward the oxidation of glucose was observed with a rapid response (<2 s), a low detection limit (0.

DNA methylation down-regulates EGFR expression in chickens.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a growth-factor-receptor tyrosine kinase, is up-regulated in numerous tumors, which provides a good target for cancer therapy. Although it has been documented that oncoviruses are responsible for the activation of EGFR in tumors, the impact of Marek's disease virus (MDV) infection on EGFR has not yet been studied. We performed quantitative reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR to check EGFR expression and found that it was significantly down-regulated after MDV infection.

Genetic polymorphisms of the CASP8 gene promoter may not be associated with colorectal cancer in Han Chinese from southwest China.

Purpose: Caspase 8 (CASP8) plays a critical role in the apoptotic pathway and aberrant regulation of this pathway causes many diseases including cancers. Genetic variants rs3834129 (CTTACT/-) and rs3769821 (T/C) in the promoter region of the CASP8 gene were documented to be associated with multiple solid cancers and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), respectively, despite of some controversies. We aimed to discern potential association of these two variants and rs113686495 (CTGTCATT/-), as well as CASP8 mRNA and protein expression levels with colorectal cancer (CRC) in Han Chinese.

Effects of submerged macrophytes on the abundance and community composition of ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes in a eutrophic lake.

Abundances and community compositions of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) in unvegetated sediment and the rhizosphere sediments of three submerged macrophytes (Ceratophyllum demersum, Vallisneria spinulosa, and Potamogeton crispus) were investigated in a large, eutrophic freshwater lake, Lake Taihu. Abundances of archaeal ammonia monooxygenase alpha-subunit (amoA) gene (from 6.56 × 10(6) copies to 1.

Preventative vaccine-loaded mannosylated chitosan nanoparticles intended for nasal mucosal delivery enhance immune responses and potent tumor immunity.

Chitosan (CS) has been extensively used as a protein drug and gene delivery carrier, but its delivery efficiency is unsatisfactory. In this study, a mannose ligand was used to modify CS, which could enhance the delivery efficiency of CS via mannose receptor-mediated endocytosis. A preventative anti-GRP DNA vaccine (pCR3.

DDX5 facilitates HIV-1 replication as a cellular co-factor of Rev.

HIV-1 Rev plays an important role in the late phase of HIV-1 replication, which facilitates export of unspliced viral mRNAs from the nucleus to cytoplasm in infected cells. Recent studies have shown that DDX1 and DDX3 are co-factors of Rev for the export of HIV-1 transcripts. In this report, we have demonstrated that DDX5 (p68), which is a multifunctional DEAD-box RNA helicase, functions as a new cellular co-factor of HIV-1 Rev.

Modular generation of fluorescent phycobiliproteins.

Phycobiliproteins are brightly-fluorescent light-harvesting pigments for photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and red algae. They are also of interest as fluorescent biomarkers, but their heterologous generation in vivo has previously required multiple transformations. We report here a modular approach that requires only two DNA segments.

Vitellogenin receptor mutation leads to the oogenesis mutant phenotype "scanty vitellin" of the silkworm, Bombyx mori.

Background: The vitellogenin receptor (VgR) mediates the uptake of vitellogenin (Vg) from the hemolymph by developing oocytes.

Results: VgR with the mutational EGF1 domain can bind ligand proteins but cannot be dissociated under acidic conditions. The mutant is lethal in embryos.

A recombinant adenovirus vector encoding the light chain of human coagulation factor VII and IgG1 Fc fragment to targeting tissue factor for colorectal cancer immunotherapy in the mouse model.

Purpose: Over expression of tissue factor (TF) occurs in more than 50 % of colorectal cancer (CRC). Therefore, TF represents an attractive target antigen for immunotherapy in CRC.

Methods: Here, we assessed the safety and efficacy of a recombinant adenovirus vector encoding the light chain of human coagulation factor VII (hfVII-LC) and human IgG1 Fc fragment (hIgG1-Fc), termed "benc vector," by targeting TF in the mouse model with colon cancer.

Genome-wide copy number variant analysis in inbred chickens lines with different susceptibility to Marek's disease.

Breeding of genetically resistant chickens to Marek's disease (MD) is a vital strategy to poultry health. To find the markers underlying the genetic resistance to MD, copy number variation (CNV) was examined in inbred MD-resistant and -susceptible chicken lines. A total of 45 CNVs were found in four lines of chickens, and 28 were potentially involved in immune response and cell proliferation, etc.

Marek's disease virus infection induces widespread differential chromatin marks in inbred chicken lines.

Background: Marek's disease (MD) is a neoplastic disease in chickens caused by the MD virus (MDV). Successful vaccine development against MD has resulted in increased virulence of MDV and the understanding of genetic resistance to the disease is, therefore, crucial to long-term control strategies. Also, epigenetic factors are believed to be one of the major determinants of disease response.

[Effect of surface modified nano-diamond on viscosity of dental adhesives].

Purpose: Different surface modified ultrafine-diamond (UFD) was added into dental adhesives as filler ,then the influence of dental adhesive properties was observed. The main matrix of dental adhesive was high polymer resin.

Methods: Different content of non-modified UFD(n-UFD) or modified UFD(m-UFD) were added into dental adhesives, then the viscosity of materials were measured.