Predictive value of ig Mycoplasma pneumoniae-DNA, high-density lipoprotein, natural killer cell, and platelet levels for diagnosing severe M. pneumoniae pneumonia in children.

Objective: The present study aimed to assess the predictive value of Ig Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP)-DNA, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), natural killer (NK) cell, and platelet (PLT) levels for the diagnosis of severe MP pneumonia (SMPP) in children with MP pneumonia (MPP).

Methods: Children with MPP admitted to our hospital from August 2022 to February 2024 were selected and assigned to the non-SMPP (NSMPP) and SMPP groups according to whether they had severe pneumonia. The following parameters were analyzed and compared between the two groups by the rank-sum test: age; Ig MP-DNA level; white blood cell, neutrophil (N), and monocyte counts; platelet (PLT), C-reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein, and procalcitonin levels; and levels of T cells, CD4 T cells, CD8 T cells, B cells, and NK cells.

[Establishment and evaluation of haloalkane dehalogenase tagged -adrenergic receptor chromatography].

Receptor chromatography is an efficient analytical technique that combines the high separation ability of chromatography with the high specificity of receptors for drug recognition. In addition, this technique offers the advantages of active recognition, online separation, and convenient multidimensional target tracking. This strategy allows target active ingredients in complex systems, such as traditional Chinese medicines, to be efficiently screened and accurately identified.

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Hyaluronic Acid and Chitosan-modified Phytosome for Co-delivery of Oxymatrine and Glycyrrhizin for Combination Therapy.

Background: Multidrug resistance (MDR) of cancer cells is a major obstacle to efficient cancer chemotherapy. Combination therapy is expected to enhance the anticancer effect and reverse MDR. Numerous patents involve different kinds of nanoparticles for the co-delivery of multiple chemotherapeutics, but the FDA has approved none.

Comprehensive genomic characterisation of the NAC transcription factor family and its response to drought stress in .

The NAC transcription factor family enhances plant adaptation to environmental challenges by participating in signalling pathways triggered by abiotic stressors and hormonal cues. We identified 69 genes in the genome and renamed them according to their chromosomal distribution. These EuNAC proteins were clustered into 13 sub-families and distributed on 16 chromosomes and 2 scaffolds.

Gut microbiome responds compositionally and functionally to the seasonal diet variations in wild gibbons.

Wild animals may encounter multiple challenges especially food shortage and altered diet composition in their suboptimal ranges. Yet, how the gut microbiome responds to dietary changes remains poorly understood. Prior studies on wild animal microbiomes have typically leaned upon relatively coarse dietary records and individually unresolved fecal samples.

The contrasting effects of fluctuating temperature on bacterial diversity and performances in temperate and subtropical soils.

The extremely high species diversity of soil bacterial community has fascinated and puzzled community ecologists. Although theory predicts that fluctuations in environments can facilitate diversity maintenance, the effects of fluctuating temperature on species diversity have rarely been investigated in species-rich microbial communities. Here, we examined whether fluctuating temperature had positive effects on species diversity relative to constant temperatures in soil bacterial communities, and investigated the effects of fluctuating temperature on bacterial performances (changes in relative abundance).

N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor 2A functionalized stationary phase: A reliable method for pursuing potential ligands against Alzheimer's disease from natural products.

Aims: N-methyl-D-aspartic acid (NMDA) receptors play subunit-specific role in central neuronal development. However, insights into the pharmacological modulation of NMDA receptors were mainly lack of subunit and synaptic selectivity. The purpose of the present study was to develop a novel strategy to rapidly recognize NMDA subunit 2A (NMDA-2A) ligands from natural products and provide subunit-selective drug candidates for Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Preparation and characterization of immobilized 5-HT receptor stationary phase for high throughput screening of the receptor-binding ligands from complex systems like Curcuma wenyujin Y. H. Chen et C. Ling extract.

The incidence of depression has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. This disease is closely associated with serotonin (5-HT) receptor and often treated by complex prescription containing Curcuma wenyujin Y. H.

Microbial biogeography of acid mine drainage sediments at a regional scale across southern China.

Investigations of microbial biogeography in extreme environments provide unique opportunities to disentangle the roles of environment and space in microbial community assembly. Here, we reported a comprehensive microbial biogeographic survey of 90 acid mine drainage (AMD) sediment samples from 18 mining sites of various mineral types across southern China. We found that environmental selection was strong in determining the AMD habitat species pool.

Seasonal Climate Variations Promote Bacterial α-Diversity in Soil.

Ecological theory suggests that temporal environmental fluctuations can contribute greatly to diversity maintenance. Given bacteria's short generation time and rapid responses to environmental change, seasonal climate fluctuations are very likely to play an important role in maintaining the extremely high α-diversity of soil bacterial community, which has been unfortunately neglected in previous studies. Here, with in-depth analyses of two previously published soil bacterial datasets at global scale, we found that soil bacterial α-diversity was positively correlated with both seasonal variations of temperature and precipitation.

Local biotic interactions drive species-specific divergence in soil bacterial communities.

It is well accepted that environmental heterogeneity and dispersal are key factors determining soil bacterial community composition, yet little is known about the role of local biotic interactions. Here we address this issue with an abundance-manipulation experiment that was conducted in a semiarid grassland. We manually increased the abundance of six randomly chosen resident bacterial species in separate, closed, communities and allowed the communities to recover in situ for 1 year.

Specific adaptation to strong competitors can offset the negative effects of population size reductions.

Competition plays a crucial role in determining adaptation of species, yet we know little as to how adaptation is affected by the strength of competition. On the one hand, strong competition typically results in population size reductions, which can hamper adaptation owing to a shortage of beneficial mutations; on the other hand, specificity of adaptation to competitors may offset the negative evolutionary consequences of such population size effects. Here, we investigate how competition strength affects population fitness in the bacterium Our results demonstrate that strong competition constrains adaptation of focal populations, which can be partially explained by population size reductions.

Stability of A Coevolving Host-parasite System Peaks at Intermediate Productivity.

Habitat productivity may affect the stability of consumer-resource systems, through both ecological and evolutionary mechanisms. We hypothesize that coevolving consumer-resource systems show more stable dynamics at intermediate resource availability, while very low-level resource supply cannot support sufficiently large populations of resource and consumer species to avoid stochastic extinction, and extremely resource-rich environments may promote escalatory arms-race-like coevolution that can cause strong fluctuations in species abundance and even extinction of one or both trophic levels. We tested these ideas by carrying out an experimental evolution study with a model bacterium-phage system (Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 and its phage SBW25Φ2).

Field experimental evidence that stochastic processes predominate in the initial assembly of bacterial communities.

To assess the relative importance of environmental selection, dispersal and stochastic processes in structuring ecological communities, we conducted a bacterial community assembly experiment using microcosms filled with sterile liquid medium under field conditions in the Inner Mongolian grasslands. Multiple replicate microcosms containing different carbon substrates were placed at nine locations across three spatial scales (10, 300 and 10 000 m distance between locations) in such a way that the environment of microcosms varies independently of the geographical distance. The operational taxonomic units within the experimental communities were assessed via the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism techniques on the 10th and 17th days after the onset of the experiment.

Revealing binding interaction between seven drugs and immobilized β2-adrenoceptor by high-performance affinity chromatography using frontal analysis.

The development of new approaches to study the affinity between ligands and G-protein-coupled receptors proves to be of growing interest for pharmacologists, chemists, and biologists. The aim of this work was to determine the binding of seven drugs to β2-adrenoceptors by frontal analysis using immobilized receptor stationary phase. The dissociation constants (Kd ) were determined to be (3.

The role of late-acting self-incompatibility and early-acting inbreeding depression in governing female fertility in monkshood, Aconitum kusnezoffii.

Reduced seed yields following self-pollination have repeatedly been observed, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive when self-pollen tubes can readily grow into ovaries, because pre-, post-zygotic late-acting self-incompatibility (LSI), or early-acting inbreeding depression (ID) can induce self-sterility. The main objective of this study was to differentiate these processes in Aconitum kusnezoffii, a plant lacking stigmatic or stylar inhibition of self-pollination. We performed a hand-pollination experiment in a natural population of A.

The alleviation of acute and chronic kidney injury by human Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells triggered by ischemia-reperfusion injury via an endocrine mechanism.

Background Aims: The effects of human Wharton's jelly-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (WJ-MSC) on acute and chronic kidney injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) were assessed.

Methods: WJ-MSC were injected intravenously immediately after solitary kidney ischemia for 45 min. Cells were labeled with 5-bromo-2'deoxy-uridine (BrdU) for tracing in vivo.

Valproic acid regulates antioxidant enzymes and prevents ischemia/reperfusion injury in the rat retina.

Purposes: To investigate whether valproic acid (VPA) has a neuroprotective effect against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in the rat retina, and to elucidate the potential antioxidant mechanisms involved.

Methods: Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: sham (group A), sham plus VPA (group B), I/R plus vehicle (group C), and I/R plus VPA (group D). Retinal I/R injury was produced by inducing an exceedingly high intraocular pressure (IOP).

Valproic acid-mediated neuroprotection in retinal ischemia injury via histone deacetylase inhibition and transcriptional activation.

Retinal ischemia plays a central role in several retinal diseases. The pathogenesis of retinal ischemia involves changes in gene expression. Valproic acid (VPA), a broad-spectrum histone deacetylase inhibitor, is an anticonvulsant and mood-stabilizing drug with neuroprotective effects.

Isopropyl 3-(3,4-dihydroxy-phen-yl)-2-hydroxy-propanoate.

The title compound, C(12)H(16)O(5), is a derivative of β-(3,4-dihydroxy-phen-yl)-α-hydr-oxy acid. The crystal packing is stabilized by inter-molecular O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds.

[Nitrate pollution in groundwater for drinking and its affecting factors in Hailun, northeast China].

Nitrate pollution in groundwater has become a worldwide problem. It may affect the water quality for daily use and thus the health of people. The temporal and spatial characteristics of nitrate pollution in the groundwater were addressed by sample analysis of the drinkable water from 157 wells in Hailun, Heilongjiang, northeastern China.

Vasorelaxant effect of isopropyl 3-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-hydroxypropanoate, a novel metabolite from Salvia miltiorrhiza, on isolated rat mesenteric artery.

The present study was designed to investigate the relaxant effect of isopropyl 3-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-hydroxypropanoate (IDHP), a new metabolite from Salvia miltiorrhiza, on rat mesenteric artery. Isolated mesenteric arterial rings were mounted in organ baths and the isometric tension changes were measured continuously by a sensitive myograph system. The results showed that IDHP at concentrations greater than 0.

[Tumor targeting gene transfer mediated by electroporation for growth suppression of retinoblastoma in vivo].

Objective: To explore the effects and mechanisms of electroporation on the therapy of transplanted retinoblastoma tumor (RB) by transferring the expressive plasmids of sFlk-1 and ExTek.

Methods: The effects and mechanisms of sFlk-1 and ExTek on RB is validated both in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, pCI-sFlk-1 was transfected into HEK293 (human embryonic kidney 293) cells with DMRIE-C Reagent, and its supernatant was collected 24 h later to mix with RPMI-1640 medium as 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1.

[Subretinal transplantation of genetically modified human retinal pigment epithelium cells delay photoreceptor degeneration and functional deterioration in rats].

Objective: To investigate whether subretinal transplantation of genetically modified human retinal pigment epithelium cells can rescue photoreceptor degeneration in RCS rats.

Methods: A spontaneously derived adult human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cell line (CRL-2302) was infected by gfp retrovirus, then transfected by liposome mediated CNTF expression plasmid transfer. Around 1 x 10(5) genetic modified cells were injected to subretinal space of the right eye at 4 - 5 weeks old, the left eye was left without injection or injected with PBS as controls.

Study of the determination and pharmacokinetics of Compound Danshen Dripping Pills in human serum by column switching liquid chromatography electrospray ion trap mass spectrometry.

Compound Danshen Dripping Pill (CDDP) is an important drug widely used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. An active component Danshensu (DS) of CDDP was separated by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography using column-switching system and analyzed by electrospray mass spectrometry. With this validated assay the pharmacokinetics of CDDP was studied in 10 healthy volunteers after a single oral administration of 250 mg.