Pancreatic β-Cell O-GlcNAc Transferase Overexpression Increases Susceptibility to Metabolic Stressors in Female Mice.

The nutrient-sensor O-GlcNAc transferase (Ogt), the sole enzyme that adds an O-GlcNAc-modification onto proteins, plays a critical role for pancreatic β-cell survival and insulin secretion. We hypothesized that β-cell Ogt overexpression would confer protection from β-cell failure in response to metabolic stressors, such as high-fat diet (HFD) and streptozocin (STZ). Here, we generated a β-cell-specific Ogt in overexpressing (βOgtOE) mice, where a significant increase in Ogt protein level and O-GlcNAc-modification of proteins were observed in islets under a normal chow diet.

Characteristics of bone metabolism in postmenopausal female patients with different types of idiopathic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo: A single-centre retrospective study.

Objective: The association between benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and impaired calcium metabolism has attracted widespread interest. Several studies have suggested that decreased bone mineral density (BMD) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) level are related to the occurrence and/or recurrence of BPPV; however, the characteristics of bone metabolism in patients with BPPV subtypes have not been fully investigated, and conclusions have been controversial. This study aimed to evaluate BMD and serum levels of 25(OH)D and bone turnover markers to clarify the characteristics of bone metabolism in patients with different types of BPPV.

Sestd1 Encodes a Developmentally Dynamic Synapse Protein That Complexes With BCR Rac1-GAP to Regulate Forebrain Dendrite, Spine and Synapse Formation.

SEC14 and Spectrin domain-1 (Sestd1) is a synapse protein that exhibits a striking shift from the presynaptic to postsynaptic space as neurons mature postnatally in the mouse hippocampus. Hippocampal pyramidal neurons from mice with global genetic deletion of Sestd1 have reduced dendrite arbors, spines, and excitatory synapses. Electrophysiologically this correlates with cell-autonomous reductions in both AMPA- and NMDA-excitatory postsynaptic currents in individual hippocampal neurons from which Sestd1 has been deleted in vivo.

[Reductive Dechlorination of Trichloroethylene by Benzoate-Enriched Anaerobic Cultures].

Gas chromatography was used to monitor the reductive dechlorination of trichloroethylene (TCE) by anaerobic enrichment cultures with benzoate as the sole carbon source. The 454 pyrosequencing technique was used to investigate the microbial community and the real-time quantitative PCR was used to quantify the gene copies of Dehalococcoides spp. (DHC).

[Analysis of Prokaryotic Community Structure in River Waters of the Ningbo Sanjiang Mouth].

The prokaryotic community structure in river waters of the Ningbo Sanjiang Mouth was analyzed for the first time using 16S rRNA gene based-Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing. A total of 215 504 high-quality sequences were obtained, and the results of alpha-diversity analysis revealed that Yongjiang River Watershed (YRW) harbored high diversity and richness of prokaryotic communities. Taxonomic assignment analysis indicated that β-Proteobacterium, Actinobacteria and Bacteroidetes dominated in the river water of YRW, and accounted for 78.

Chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil from the leaves of Macleaya cordata (Willd) R. Br.

The essential oil from the leaves of Macleaya cordata R.Br. obtained by hydrodistillation was analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry.

Dapper antagonist of catenin-1 cooperates with Dishevelled-1 during postsynaptic development in mouse forebrain GABAergic interneurons.

Synaptogenesis has been extensively studied along with dendritic spine development in glutamatergic pyramidal neurons, however synapse development in cortical interneurons, which are largely aspiny, is comparatively less well understood. Dact1, one of 3 paralogous Dact (Dapper/Frodo) family members in mammals, is a scaffold protein implicated in both the Wnt/β-catenin and the Wnt/Planar Cell Polarity pathways. We show here that Dact1 is expressed in immature cortical interneurons.

SEC14 and spectrin domains 1 (Sestd1) and Dapper antagonist of catenin 1 (Dact1) scaffold proteins cooperatively regulate the Van Gogh-like 2 (Vangl2) four-pass transmembrane protein and planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway during embryonic development in mice.

The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is a conserved non-canonical (β-catenin-independent) branch of Wnt signaling crucial to embryogenesis, during which it regulates cell polarity and polarized cell movements. Disruption of PCP components in mice, including Vangl2 and Dact1, results in defective neural tube closure and other developmental defects. Here, we show that Sestd1 is a novel binding partner of Vangl2 and Dact1.

Ablation of calcineurin Aβ reveals hyperlipidemia and signaling cross-talks with phosphodiesterases.

Insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia, and cardiovascular complications are common dysregulations of metabolic syndrome. Transplant patients treated with immunosuppressant drugs such as cyclosporine A (CsA), an inhibitor of calcineurin phosphatase, frequently develop similar metabolic complications. Although calcineurin is known to mediate insulin sensitivity by regulating β-cell growth and adipokine gene transcription, its role in lipid homeostasis is poorly understood.

Vitamin D3 and insulin combined treatment promotes titanium implant osseointegration in diabetes mellitus rats.

This study investigated the effect of insulin and vitamin D(3) (VD(3)) treatment on implant osseointegration in diabetic mellitus (DM) rats. DM was induced by administration of streptozotocin in rats, which received implants insertion in the femur. Then animals were subjected to different treatment and divided to the following group: control, diabetic, insulin-treated diabetic, VD(3)-treated diabetic, insulin and VD(3) combination-treated diabetic rats.

A retrospective comparison of the efficacy and safety in kidney transplant recipients with basiliximab and anti-thymocyte globulin.

Background: Induction therapy are utilized to achieve an adequate immunosuppression at the time of transplantation. The use of basiliximab or anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) for induction therapy has significantly reduced the incidence of acute rejection episodes post-transplantation. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of the basiliximab in patients with immuno-induction therapy after kidney transplantation with the ATG.

Forkhead box protein 3 mRNA expression in the peripheral blood of kidney-transplant recipients with acute rejection.

Background: Regulatory T cells (Tregs) are immunologically and clinically interesting not least because of the important role they play in allograft rejection. Likewise, expression of the transcription factor forkhead box protein 3 (FOXP3), detected in transplant biopsies, is also of interest because of its role in the development of regulatory T cells. In this study, we investigated the relationship between FoxP3 mRNA expression and acute organ rejection in kidney-transplant recipients.

All Dact (Dapper/Frodo) scaffold proteins dimerize and exhibit conserved interactions with Vangl, Dvl, and serine/threonine kinases.

Background: The Dact family of scaffold proteins was discovered by virtue of binding to Dvl proteins central to Wnt and Planar Cell Polarity (PCP) signaling. Subsequently Dact proteins have been linked to a growing list of potential partners implicated in β-catenin-dependent and β-catenin-independent forms of Wnt and other signaling. To clarify conserved and non-conserved roles for this protein family, we systematically compared molecular interactions of all three murine Dact paralogs by co-immunoprecipitation of proteins recombinantly expressed in cultured human embryonic kidney cells.

Factors affecting the long-term renal allograft survival.

Background: In the past decades, the one-year graft survival of cadaveric renal allografts has been markedly improved, but their long-term survival has not kept pace. The attrition rate of renal allografts surviving after one year remains almost unchanged. The causes for late graft loss are multiple.

Monitoring immune function after rapid corticosteroid reduction in kidney transplant recipients.

Background: Long-term use of steroid with large dosage might cause many adverse effects in kidney transplant patients; reducing steroid dosage to a low level for maintenance is helpful in avoiding the side-effects, but meanwhile, acute rejection may rise to be a main concern. The present research monitored the immune function changes and the incidence of acute rejection and infection after rapid steroid reduction to investigate the safety of this strategy.

Methods: A prospective trial was conducted, using tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil as the basic immunosuppressive regimen, in addition to antibody induction with basiliximab.

[Hurthle cell thyroid tumor: an analysis of 28 cases].

Objective: To explore the clinical features and the combined treatment modality of Hurthle cell thyroid tumor (HCT).

Methods: Twenty-eight cases of HCT treated between 2001 and 2009 were analyzed retrospectively.

Results: The age of the patients ranged from 18 to 72 years (with a median of 46.

[Immunoadsorption in highly sensitized renal transplant recipients].

Objective: to investigate the efficacy and safety of protein A immunoadsorption (IA) therapy in the prevention of highly sensitized renal transplant recipients with acute rejection.

Methods: a retrospective analysis of preoperative clinical data was carried out in 12 renal transplant patients in our hospital from March 2008 to October 2009 with a high level of panel reactive antibody (PRA). Serum PRA and IgG, IgM, IgA were detected at pre and post-treatment.

Evolutionarily conserved role of calcineurin in phosphodegron-dependent degradation of phosphodiesterase 4D.

Calcineurin is a widely expressed and highly conserved Ser/Thr phosphatase. Calcineurin is inhibited by the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine A (CsA) or tacrolimus (FK506). The critical role of CsA/FK506 as an immunosuppressant following transplantation surgery provides a strong incentive to understand the phosphatase calcineurin.

[Recovery characteristic of donor's and receptor's renal function from age over 55 years living donors donate kidneys].

Objective: To observe and research clinical characteristics and curative effect and safety of renal transplantation from living elderly donors donating kidneys.

Methods: Retrospective study on the 19 living kidney donors who were over 55 years old and on the renal transplantation operations completed by our center for the past few years. Among the 19 donors, with an average age of 58 years old.

Rapamycin instead of mycophenolate mofetil or azathioprine in treatment of post-renal transplantation urothelial carcinoma.

Background: Malignant tumor is the most common complication occurred in transplant recipients. It is widely recognized that immunosuppressive treatments increase the risk of cancer in transplant recipients. The efficacy and safety of rapamycin (RPM) in combination with low-dose calcineurin inhibitor (CNI) in treating 15 renal allograft recipients which developed urothelial carcinoma were observed.

Modulation of the beta-catenin signaling pathway by the dishevelled-associated protein Hipk1.

Background: Wnts are evolutionarily conserved ligands that signal through beta-catenin-dependent and beta-catenin-independent pathways to regulate cell fate, proliferation, polarity, and movements during vertebrate development. Dishevelled (Dsh/Dvl) is a multi-domain scaffold protein required for virtually all known Wnt signaling activities, raising interest in the identification and functions of Dsh-associated proteins.

Methodology: We conducted a yeast-2-hybrid screen using an N-terminal fragment of Dsh, resulting in isolation of the Xenopus laevis ortholog of Hipk1.

[Experimental study on effect of Bailing Cpsule on dendritic cells in mice].

Objective: Comparing with the classic immuno-supressors, to probe in the in vitro effect of Cordyceps Sinensis (CS) on the differentiation, maturation and function of dentritic cells (DCs), and further to explore its mechanism.

Methods: Mice myeloid DCs were cultured respectively with extraction of Bailing Capsule (CSE), a Chinese medical preparation made of CS, Rapamycin and Tacrolimus, and the effect of various drugs on phenotype of DCs was analyzed with flow cytometer. Then, using as the stimulator, the DCs cultured with different drugs were mixed and cultured with heterogenous lymphocytes for observing the stimulating capacity of DCs on cell proliferation.

[Analysis of gene expression of fatty acid synthase in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity by the method of real-time quantitative PCR].

Objective: To relatively quantify the gene expression of fatty acid synthase in squamous cell carcinoma, adjacent tissue, and some normal oral tissues by real-time quantitative PCR.

Methods: The tissues were collected fresh from surgical specimens. The collected tissues were minced.