New insights into SUMOylation and NEDDylation in fibrosis.

Fibrosis is the outcome of any abnormal tissue repair process that results in normal tissue replacement with scar tissue, leading to persistent tissue damage and cellular injury. During the process of fibrosis, many cytokines and chemokines are involved, and their activities are controlled by post-translational modifications, especially SUMOylation and NEDDylation. Both these modifications entail a three-step process of activation, conjugation, and ligation that involves three kinds of enzymes, namely, E1 activating, E2 conjugating, and E3 ligase enzymes.

Atractylodin inhibits fructose-induced human podocyte hypermotility via anti-oxidant to down-regulate TRPC6/p-CaMK4 signaling.

High fructose has been reported to drive glomerular podocyte oxidative stress and then induce podocyte foot process effacement in vivo, which could be partly regarded as podocyte hypermotility in vitro. Atractylodin possesses anti-oxidative effect. The aim of this study was to explore whether atractylodin prevented against fructose-induced podocyte hypermotility via anti-oxidative property.

Thioredoxin interacting protein drives astrocytic glucose hypometabolism in corticosterone-induced depressive state.

Brain energetics disturbance is a hypothesized cause of depression. Glucose is the predominant fuel of brain energy metabolism; however, the cell-specific change of glucose metabolism and underlying molecular mechanism in depression remains unclear. In this study, we firstly applied F-FDG PET and observed brain glucose hypometabolism in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of corticosterone-induced depression of rats.

Weibull kinetic modeling and nutritional effects of high-hydrostatic-pressure sterilization of soft-packing boiled bamboo shoots.

Application of high-hydrostatic-pressure (HHP) sterilization technology to boiled bamboo shoots was preliminarily discussed. An improved Weibull model that considered pressure and time as independent variables simultaneously for simulating the sterilization result was obtained by fitting the microbial lethal curves with high precision ( >0.98).

Effects of cultural medium on the formation and antitumor activity of polysaccharides by Cordyceps gunnii.

The effects of culture medium composition (i.e., carbon and nitrogen sources) on the growth of mycelia, molecular weight distribution and antitumor activity of intracellular polysaccharides (IPS) from Cordyceps gunnii were investigated.

Structural properties of polysaccharides from cultivated fruit bodies and mycelium of Cordyceps militaris.

The structural properties of polysaccharides, respectively, obtained from the fermented mycelium and cultivated fruiting bodies of the Cordyceps militaris were investigated and compared in this paper. First, the crude polysaccharides were extracted from the mycelium and the fruiting bodies, respectively. The polysaccharides were successively purified by Sevag and chromatography on Sephadex G-100 column to produce two polysaccharides fractions termed CMPS-II and CBPS-II, respectively.

The intracellular mechanism of action on Escherichia coli of BF2-A/C, two analogues of the antimicrobial peptide Buforin 2.

In the present study, the antimicrobial peptides BF2-A and BF2-C, two analogues of Buforin 2, were chemically synthesized and the activities were assayed. To elucidate the bactericidal mechanism of BF2-A/C and their different antimicrobial activities, the influence of peptides to E. coli cell membrane and targets of intracellular action were researched.

Efficient bioconversion of compactin to pravastatin by the quinoline-degrading microorganism Pseudonocardia carboxydivorans isolated from petroleum-contaminated soil.

Pravastatin is one of the first available statins on the market. The purpose of this study was to isolate and identify the quinoline-degrading microorganism from petroleum-contaminated soil that could bioconvert compactin to pravastatin. There were 10,011 microorganism colonies isolated; five strains showed a higher capability for quinoline biodegradation.

Protective effect of green tea (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate against the monoamine oxidase B enzyme activity increase in adult rat brains.

Objective: Monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) levels were observed increasing during aging in rat brains. (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the major polyphenolic constituent in green tea. The objective of the present study was to investigate the EGCG compound for its effect on preventing an increase in MAO-B activity in rat brains.

Development of real-time and nested RT-PCR to detect astrovirus and one-year survey of astrovirus in Jiangmen City, China.

Human astroviruses (HAstVs) are one of the major viral agents of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in all age groups, especially in young children. In this study, new one-step real-time RT-PCR and nested RT-PCR assays were developed to detect HAstVs. HAstVs were identified in 46 (8.

Five serum proteins identified using SELDI-TOF-MS as potential biomarkers of gastric cancer.

Objective: The aims of this study were to detect serum proteomic patterns in gastric cancer serum samples using Surface-enhanced Laser Desorption/ionization-Time-of-flight-Mass Spectrometry ProteinChip array technology, to screen biomarker candidates, to build diagnostic models and to evaluate their clinical significance.

Methods: Serum samples from patients with gastric cancer and normal healthy control subjects (n = 125) were analysed using surface-enhanced laser desorption/ionization technology. The spectra were generated on weak cation exchange (WCX2) chips, and protein peak clustering and classification analyses were established using Ciphergen Biomarker Wizard and Biomarker Pattern software, respectively.

The membrane action mechanism of analogs of the antimicrobial peptide Buforin 2.

Previously, the antimicrobial peptides BF2-A and BF2-B, two analogs of Buforin 2 that was hypothesized to kill bacteria by entering cells and binding nucleic acids, had been designed based on the structure-activity analysis of Buforin 2. In the present study, BF2-A and BF2-B were chemically synthesized and their activities and lipopolysaccharide affinity were assayed. To elucidate the mechanism of action with cytoplasmic membranes, we subsequently examined the membrane permeability of both peptides in detail.

Insertion mode of a novel anionic antimicrobial peptide MDpep5 (Val-Glu-Ser-Trp-Val) from Chinese traditional edible larvae of housefly and its effect on surface potential of bacterial membrane.

Antimicrobial molecules from insects may serve as a potentially significant group of antibiotics. To identify the effect of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) on bacterial membrane and obtain further insight in the mechanism of membrane transport of AMPs, the interaction of surface potential and permeation of a novel antimicrobial peptide MDpep5 (Val-Glu-Ser-Trp-Val) from Chinese traditional edible larvae of housefly was examined using liposomes from bacterial lipids extract. Compared with the cationic AMPs, MDpep5 cannot completely disrupt membrane.

Both inorganic and organic selenium supplements can decrease brain monoamine oxidase B enzyme activity in adult rats.

It has been observed that the levels of brain monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) increase during ageing. MAO catalyses the oxidative deamination of neurotransmitters, in which the by-product H2O2 is subsequently generated. Se exists naturally in inorganic and organic forms and is considered to play a key role in antioxidation functioning.

Design and analysis of structure-activity relationship of novel antimicrobial peptides derived from the conserved sequence of cecropin.

We have de novo designed four antimicrobial peptides AMP-A/B/C/D, the 51-residues peptides, which are based on the conserved sequence of cecropin. In the present study, the four peptides were chemically synthesized and their activities assayed. Their secondary structure, amphipathic property, electric field distribution and transmembrane domain were subsequently predicted by bioinformatics tools.

[Molecular epidemiological study of human calicivirus infection in diarrhea children in autumn and winter at a hospital in Guangzhou].

Objective: To investigate the epidemiological features of human calicivirus( HuCV) infection in children with diarrhea in a hospital in Guangzhou.

Methods: Stool specimens were collected from children with viral diarrhea diagnosed between October, 2003 and January, 2004 and between October, 2004 and January, 2005. HuCV was detected by means of RT-PCR and sequence analysis of the PCR products.