Morphometric MRI changes in intracranial hypertension due to cerebral venous thrombosis: a retrospective imaging study.

Aim: To evaluate whether some magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signs suggesting idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) could also be found in intracranial hypertension (IH) due to cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) and to assess their possible contribution to diagnosing this disorder.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-one patients with IH due to CVT were evaluated prospectively using MRI. A group of 33 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers served as controls.

Big-conductance Ca-activated K channels in physiological and pathophysiological urinary bladder smooth muscle cells.

Contraction and relaxation of urinary bladder smooth muscle cells (UBSMCs) represent the important physiological functions of the bladder. Contractile responses in UBSMCs are regulated by a number of ion channels including big-conductance Ca- activated K (BK) channels. Great progress has been made in studies of BK channels in UBSMCs.

Environmental Filtering Process Has More Important Roles than Dispersal Limitation in Shaping Large-Scale Prokaryotic Beta Diversity Patterns of Grassland Soils.

Despite the utmost importance of microorganisms in maintaining ecosystem functioning and their ubiquitous distribution, our knowledge of the large-scale pattern of microbial diversity is limited, particularly in grassland soils. In this study, the microbial communities of 99 soil samples spanning over 3000 km across grassland ecosystems in northern China were investigated using high-throughput sequencing to analyze the beta diversity pattern and the underlying ecological processes. The microbial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Planctomycetes across all the soil samples.

Does arsenic play an important role in the soil microbial community around a typical arsenic mining area?

Arsenic (As) can cause serious hazards to human health, especially in mining areas. Soil bacterial communities, which are critical parts of the soil ecosystem, were analyzed directly for soil environmental factors. As a consequence, it is of great significance to understand the ecological risk of arsenic contamination on bacteria, especially at the local scale.

[Establish and use of an epilepsy model in larval zebrafish].

Epilepsy is a kind of neurogenic diseases with high prevalence and characterized by seizure, brain paradoxical discharge and convulsion in spontaneous, transient, recurrent and uncontrolled manner. Development of new anti-epilepsy drugs requires a new reliable and high-performance animal models in screening of leading compounds. In this study, an epilepsy model in larval zebrafish was established using pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) compound.

Imperatorin exhibits anticancer activities in human colon cancer cells via the caspase cascade.

Despite advances in medical treatments for colon cancer, it remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality among men. Thus, more efficacious treatment strategies for colon cancer are needed. Imperatorin is one of the major ingredients present in the root of Angelica dahurica, and has been used in herbal formulations for the treatment of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases.

Coupling of soil prokaryotic diversity and plant diversity across latitudinal forest ecosystems.

The belowground soil prokaryotic community plays a cardinal role in sustaining the stability and functions of forest ecosystems. Yet, the nature of how soil prokaryotic diversity co-varies with aboveground plant diversity along a latitudinal gradient remains elusive. By establishing three hundred 400-m(2) quadrats from tropical rainforest to boreal forest in a large-scale parallel study on both belowground soil prokaryote and aboveground tree and herb communities, we found that soil prokaryotic diversity couples with the diversity of herbs rather than trees.

Anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities of Angelica dahurica extract via induction of apoptosis in colon cancer cells.

Introduction: Angelica dahurica Radix is the common herbal medicine with anti-cancer activities. However, details of its anti-cancer activities are lacking.

Materials And Methods: We investigated the anti-cancer effects of Angelica dahurica extract in HT-29 colon cancer cell line.

Assessment of the fate of silver nanoparticles in the A(2)O-MBR system.

In this study, we employed a bench scale A(2)O-MBR (anaerobic-anoxic-oxic membrane bioreactor) system to systematically investigate the behavior and distribution of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in the activated sludge. The results showed that AgNPs would aggregate and form Ag-sulfur complexes in the activated sludge, and the dissolved silver only reached 13.6 μg/L when AgNPs of 5mg/L was spiked into the A(2)O-MBR.

Responses of soil ammonia oxidizers to a short-term severe mercury stress.

The responses of soil ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to mercury (Hg) stress were investigated through a short-term incubation experiment. Treated with four different concentrations of Hg (CK, Hg25, Hg50, and Hg100, denoting 0, 25, 50, and 100mgHg/kg dry soil, respectively), samples were harvested after 3, 7, and 28day incubation. Results showed that the soil potential nitrification rate (PNR) was significantly inhibited by Hg stress during the incubation.

Silencing pancreatic adenocarcinoma upregulated factor (PAUF) increases the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells to gemcitabine.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma upregulated factor (PAUF) is a new oncogene that activates signaling pathways that play a critical role in resistance to gemcitabine. We thus speculated that PAUF also plays a role in resistance to gemcitabine of pancreatic cancer cells. We established BxPC-3 cell lines with stable PAUF knockdown (BxPC-3_shPAUF) and controls (BxPC-3_shCtrl) and evaluated sensitivity to gemcitabine in vitro by MTT and flow cytometry.

Cell-cell contact promotes Ebola virus GP-mediated infection.

Ebola virus (EBOV) is a highly pathogenic filovirus that causes hemorrhagic fever in humans and animals. Here we provide evidence that cell-cell contact promotes infection mediated by the glycoprotein (GP) of EBOV. Interestingly, expression of EBOV GP alone, even in the absence of retroviral Gag-Pol, is sufficient to transfer a retroviral vector encoding Tet-off from cell to cell.

Influence of rice straw amendment on mercury methylation and nitrification in paddy soils.

Unlabelled: Currently, rice straw return in place of burning is becoming more intensive in China than observed previously. However, little is known on the effect of returned rice straw on mercury (Hg) methylation and microbial activity in contaminated paddy fields. Here, we conduct a microcosm experiment to evaluate the effect of rice straw amendment on the Hg methylation and potential nitrification in two paddy soils with distinct Hg levels.

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate activates TRPC3 channels to cause extracellular Ca2+ influx in airway smooth muscle cells.

Transient receptor potential-3 (TRPC3) channels play a predominant role in forming nonselective cation channels (NSCCs) in airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) and are significantly increased in their activity and expression in asthmatic ASMCs. To extend these novel findings, we have explored the regulatory mechanisms that control the activity of TRPC3 channels. Our data for the first time reveal that inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), an important endogenous signaling molecule, can significantly enhance the activity of single NSCCs in ASMCs.

The economic burden of influenza-associated outpatient visits and hospitalizations in China: a retrospective survey.

Background: The seasonal influenza vaccine coverage rate in China is only 1.9 %. There is no information available on the economic burden of influenza-associated outpatient visits and hospitalizations at the national level, even though this kind of information is important for informing national-level immunization policy decision-making.

IFITM Proteins Restrict HIV-1 Infection by Antagonizing the Envelope Glycoprotein.

The interferon-induced transmembrane (IFITM) proteins have been recently shown to restrict HIV-1 and other viruses. Here, we provide evidence that IFITM proteins, particularly IFITM2 and IFITM3, specifically antagonize the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env), thereby inhibiting viral infection. IFITM proteins interact with HIV-1 Env in viral producer cells, leading to impaired Env processing and virion incorporation.

Canonical transient receptor potential 3 channels activate NF-κB to mediate allergic airway disease via PKC-α/IκB-α and calcineurin/IκB-β pathways.

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of canonical transient receptor potential 3 (TRPC3) channel in allergen-induced airway disease (AIAD) and its underlying signaling mechanisms. The procedures included (1) intravenous injection of lentiviral TRPC3 channel or nonsilencing short hairpin ribonucleic acid (shRNA) to make the channel knockdown (KD) or control mice, (2) allergen sensitization/challenge to induce AIAD, (3) patch-clamp recording and Ca(2+) imaging to examine the channel activity, and (4) gene manipulations and other methods to determine the underlying signaling mechanisms. The findings are that (1) intravenous or intranasal delivery of TRPC3 channel lentiviral shRNAs or blocker 1-[4-[(2,3,3-trichloro-1-oxo-2-propen-1-yl)amino]phenyl]-5-(trifluoromethyl)-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylic acid prevents AIAD in mice, (2) TRPC3 channel KD and overexpression, respectively, blocks and augments protein kinase C-α/nuclear factor of κ light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cell inhibitor-α (PKC-α/IκB-α)-mediated or calcineurin/IκB-β-dependent, NF-κB-dependent allergen-induced airway smooth muscle cell (ASMC) hyperproliferation and cyclin D1 (an important cell proliferation molecule) induction, and (3) the changes of the major molecules of the PKC-α/IκBα- and calcineurin/IκB-β-dependent NF-κB signaling pathways are also observed in asthmatic human ASMCs.

Improved development of somatic cell cloned bovine embryos by a mammary gland epithelia cells in vitro model.

Previous studies have established a bovine mammary gland epithelia cells in vitro model by the adenovirus-mediated telomerase (hTERT-bMGEs). The present study was conducted to confirm whether hTERT-bMGEs were effective target cells to improve the efficiency of transgenic expression and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). To accomplish this, a mammary-specific vector encoding human lysozyme and green fluorescent protein was used to verify the transgenic efficiency of hTERT-bMGEs, and untreated bovine mammary gland epithelial cells (bMGEs) were used as a control group.

Superovulation Induced Changes of Lipid Metabolism in Ovaries and Embryos and Its Probable Mechanism.

This research was intended to investigate the fetal origins of changed birth weight of the offspring born through assisted reproductive technology (ART). The association between hormone and lipid metabolism or body weight has been generally accepted, and as the basic and specific treatment in ART procedure, gonadotropin stimulation might have potential effects on intrauterine lipid metabolism. In our studies, the mice were superovulated with two doses of gonadotropin.

Synthesis of Fe3O4/Polyacrylonitrile Composite Electrospun Nanofiber Mat for Effective Adsorption of Tetracycline.

Novel Fe3O4/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite nanofibers (NFs) were prepared by a simple two-step process, an electrospinning and solvothermal method. Characterization by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated formation of a uniform nanoparticles coating (about 20 nm in thickness) on the PAN nanofiber backbone. The coating was constructed by well-crystallized cubic phase Fe3O4 nanoparticles as examined by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD).

Involvement of large-conductance Ca2+-activated K+ channels in chloroquine-induced force alterations in pre-contracted airway smooth muscle.

The participation of large-conductance Ca2+ activated K+ channels (BKs) in chloroquine (chloro)-induced relaxation of precontracted airway smooth muscle (ASM) is currently undefined. In this study we found that iberiotoxin (IbTx, a selective inhibitor of BKs) and chloro both completely blocked spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) in single mouse tracheal smooth muscle cells, which suggests that chloro might block BKs. We further found that chloro inhibited Ca2+ sparks and caffeine-induced global Ca2+ increases.

Paenibacillus tibetensis sp. nov., a psychrophilic bacterium isolated from alpine swamp meadow soil.

A novel psychrophilic strain, SSB001(T), was isolated from an alpine swamp meadow soil in Tibet, China, and identified as a representative of a novel phylogenetic subclade in the genus Paenibacillus , with Paenibacillus antarcticus (96.2%), Paenibacillus macquariensis (96.53%) and Paenibacillus glacialis (96.

A sorting signal suppresses IFITM1 restriction of viral entry.

The interferon-induced transmembrane proteins (IFITMs) broadly inhibit virus infections, particularly at the viral entry level. However, despite this shared ability to inhibit fusion, IFITMs differ in the potency and breadth of viruses restricted, an anomaly that is not fully understood. Here, we show that differences in the range of viruses restricted by IFITM1 are regulated by a C-terminal non-canonical dibasic sorting signal KRXX that suppresses restriction of some viruses by governing its intracellular distribution.

Different influences of field aging on nickel toxicity to Folsomia candida in two types of soil.

Metal aging in soils has been considered an important factor influencing its availability and toxicity to organisms. In this study, we report the influence of 5 years field aging on the nickel (Ni) toxicity to collembolan Folsomia candida based on two different types of soil from Dezhou (DZ) and Qiyang (QY) counties in China. Acute and chronic toxicity of Ni to F.