Functional Analysis of and Related to Floral Terpenoids Biosynthesis in Tree Peony.

Tree peony (), as a popular ornamental plant worldwide, has a unique floral fragrance, and it is important in the pollination, ornamental, food, and fragrance product industries. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms for the synthesis of floral fragrance terpenoids in tree peony are not well understood, constraining their exploitation. 'Oukan' produces strong floral fragrance terpenoids with high ornamental value and excellent stress resistance and is considered a valuable model for studying tree peony floral fragrance formation.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) promotes osteoclast differentiation and activation by enhancing the MAPK pathway and COX-2 expression in RAW264.7 cells.

Bone degradation is a serious complication of chronic inflammatory diseases such as septic arthritis, osteomyelitis and infected orthopedic implant failure. At present, effective therapeutic treatments for lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced bone destruction are limited to antibiotics and surgical repair in chronic inflammatory diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate the mechanism of LPS on osteoclast differentiation and activation.

Effect of occupational manganese exposure on uric Acid levels in human urine.

Objective: To investigate the effect of long-term and low-level occupational Mn exposure on the level of uric acid (UA) in human urine.

Methods: In this study, 65 volunteers were recruited, who were working on welding and foundry work in an plant in Gansu province, China. Additionally, 29 control samples were collected from individuals who did not have any history of excessive Mn exposure.

[Effects of carvedilol on cardiomyocyte apoptosis in autoimmune myocarditis in mice].

Objective: To observe the effects of carvedilol on the expression of Bcl-2, Bax and Fas in autoimmune myocarditis (AM).

Methods: A total of 60 inbred male BALB/C mice 4 - 5 weeks of age were divided at random into 3 groups as follows: AM group (n = 20), carvedilol group (n = 20) and control group (n = 20). The mice were sacrificed after gathering blood specimens by taking out the eyeballs and hearts tissue.

[Overexpression of SERCA2a by gene transfer enhances myocardial systolic function in canines].

The present study is aimed to study the effect of sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPase 2a (SERCA2a) gene transfer on the contractile function of isolated cardiomyocytes of canines. The cardiomyocytes were isolated with collagenases. The isolated cardiac cells were divided into untransfected group, empty vector group and SERCA2a-transfected group.