[Optimization of real-time quantitative fluorescence PCR system in detecting cytochrome b gene of Prorocentrum donghaiense Lu].

To quantitatively detect the cytochrome b (Cyt b) gene of Prorocentrum donghaiense Lu in the filed samples, a specific primer was designed, and the quantities of the RNA templates added into the reaction system for reverse transcription as well as the reaction conditions of real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (RFQ-PCR) were optimized. The results illustrated that the designed primer had good specificity, being able to be used to differentiate different algal species effectively. In detecting the filed samples, the suitable qualities of the templates for the 20 microL reverse transcription system were 50-200 ng.

Decreased expression of microRNA-206 in breast cancer and its association with disease characteristics and patient survival.

Objectives: MicroRNA-206 (miR-206) is downregulated in many human malignancies, which correlates with tumour progression. This study characterized the contribution of miR-206 to the initiation and progression of human breast cancer.

Methods: Consecutive primary breast cancer patients who received radical resection were enrolled.

Safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of multiple oral doses of apixaban, a factor Xa inhibitor, in healthy subjects.

Aim: Apixaban is an oral factor Xa inhibitor approved for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation and thromboprophylaxis in patients who have undergone elective hip or knee replacement surgery and under development for treatment of venous thromboembolism. This study examined the safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of multiple dose apixaban.

Method: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel group, multiple dose escalation study was conducted in six sequential dose panels - apixaban 2.

[Research advances in the effects of environmental factors on the growth and development of Aurelia spp].

Aurelia spp. is a cosmopolitan coastal species, and also, one dominant species of large jellyfish in the coastal waters of China. In recent years, Aurelia spp.

Effect of signaling probe conformation on sensor performance of a displacement-based electrochemical DNA sensor.

Here we report the effect of the signaling probe conformation on sensor performance of a "signal-on" folding-based electrochemical DNA sensor. The sensor is comprised of a methylene blue (MB)-modified signaling probe and an unlabeled capture probe that partially hybridize to each other at the distal end. In presence of the full-complement target which binds to the unlabeled capture probe, the labeled signaling probe is released.

[Forms and distributions of particulate phosphorus in the surface sediments of North Yellow Sea].

Surface sediments were collected from the North Yellow Sea in October 2007. The sediments were analyzed with modified SEDEX to obtain six forms of phosphorus. The results indicate that among the total phosphorus the detrital phosphorus and authigenic phosphorus are the main forms and the content varies from 25.

Neuronal-like differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells induced by striatal extracts from a rat model of Parkinson's disease.

A rat model of Parkinson's disease was established by 6-hydroxydopamine injection into the medial forebrain bundle. Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) were isolated from the femur and tibia, and were co-cultured with 10% and 60% lesioned or intact striatal extracts. The results showed that when exposed to lesioned striatal extracts, BMSCs developed bipolar or multi-polar morphologies, and there was an increase in the percentage of cells that expressed glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), nestin and neuron-specific enolase (NSE).

A reagentless and reusable electrochemical DNA sensor based on target hybridization-induced stem-loop probe formation.

We report a reagentless and reusable electrochemical DNA sensor that exploits competitive binding and target hybridization-induced change in the signalling probe conformation for robust detection of a target DNA sequence.

A polyglutamine expansion disease protein sequesters PTIP to attenuate DNA repair and increase genomic instability.

Glutamine (Q) expansion diseases are a family of degenerative disorders caused by the lengthening of CAG triplet repeats present in the coding sequences of seemingly unrelated genes whose mutant proteins drive pathogenesis. Despite all the molecular evidence for the genetic basis of these diseases, how mutant poly-Q proteins promote cell death and drive pathogenesis remains controversial. In this report, we show a specific interaction between the mutant androgen receptor (AR), a protein associated with spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), and the nuclear protein PTIP (Pax Transactivation-domain Interacting Protein), a protein with an unusually long Q-rich domain that functions in DNA repair.

The prevalence and correlates of breast cancer among women in Eastern China.

The purpose was to investigate the prevalence rate, characteristics and related factors of breast cancer among women in Eastern China. A total of 122,058 female subjects completed the study, with 320 confirmed cases of breast cancer (crude prevalence: 262.5/100,000; standardized prevalence: 207.

The changes in female physical and childbearing characteristics in China and potential association with risk of breast cancer.

Background: There has been a sharp increase in the incidence of breast cancer in China in recent years. A number of female physical characteristics, such as age at menarche, menopause, first birth and the duration of breastfeeding, have been linked to breast cancer, yet data on these factors in Chinese women is largely missing both for aggregate and age-specific data. Thus, the objective of this study was to explore changes in female menstrual and childbearing characteristics as a possible explanation for increasing rates of breast cancer in this country.

[Detection of Prorocentrum minimum (Pavillard) Schiller with the electrochemiluminescence-molecular probe].

In this study, the electrochemiluminescence-molecular probe (ECL-MP) was established based on the sandwich hybridization integrated with nuclease protection assay (NPA-SH) improved by electrochemiluminescence (ECL). It can be used for detecting Prorocentrum minimum (Pavillard) Schiller qualitatively and quantitatively. NPA probes of P.

Risk factors related to female breast cancer in regions of Northeast China: a 1:3 matched case-control population-based study.

Background: There has been an increase in the incidence of breast cancer in China, but no definite risk and protective factors for breast cancer have been identified in Chinese females. This study was designed to identify the risk factors for female breast cancer in North and East China.

Methods: A 1:3 matched, case-control study was conducted.

Detection of Prorocentrum minimum (Pavillard) Schiller with an electrochemiluminescence-molecular probe assay.

The occurrence of harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by Prorocentrum minimum (Pavillard) Schiller is a crucial subject in the study of HABs. An electrochemiluminescence-molecular probe assay (ECL-MP) was developed to qualitatively and quantitatively detect P. minimum.

Macroautophagy is regulated by the UPR-mediator CHOP and accentuates the phenotype of SBMA mice.

Altered protein homeostasis underlies degenerative diseases triggered by misfolded proteins, including spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), a neuromuscular disorder caused by a CAG/glutamine expansion in the androgen receptor. Here we show that the unfolded protein response (UPR), an ER protein quality control pathway, is induced in skeletal muscle from SBMA patients, AR113Q knock-in male mice, and surgically denervated wild-type mice. To probe the consequence of UPR induction, we deleted CHOP (C/EBP homologous protein), a transcription factor induced following ER stress.

rAAV-mediated delivery of brain-derived neurotrophic factor promotes neurite outgrowth and protects neurodegeneration in focal ischemic model.

Stroke is one of the neurological diseases which lead to permanently neuronal damage after temporary or long-term occlusion of vessels or after heart attack. However, there are few efficient strategies to prevent or treat this kind of insult in clinical because the consequence is irreversible and could be long-lasting after the onset of stroke. Gene therapy especially using viral system has long been addressed to be of great potential to reduce the damage.

[Phosphorus forms of the suspended particulate matter in the Yellow River downstream during water and sediment regulation 2008].

Suspended particulate matter samples were collected from Lijin Station on the Yellow River during the 2008 water and sediment regulation. Using water elutriation method, samples were physically separated according to grain size, and phosphorus forms were detected by the improved SEDEX technology. Results show that authigenic apatite phosphorus and organic phosphorus are the dominant forms of the particulate phosphorus.

Microarray analysis of gene expression by skeletal muscle of three mouse models of Kennedy disease/spinal bulbar muscular atrophy.

Background: Emerging evidence implicates altered gene expression within skeletal muscle in the pathogenesis of Kennedy disease/spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (KD/SBMA). We therefore broadly characterized gene expression in skeletal muscle of three independently generated mouse models of this disease. The mouse models included a polyglutamine expanded (polyQ) AR knock-in model (AR113Q), a polyQ AR transgenic model (AR97Q), and a transgenic mouse that overexpresses wild type AR solely in skeletal muscle (HSA-AR).

Prenatal flutamide enhances survival in a myogenic mouse model of spinal bulbar muscular atrophy.

Background: Spinal bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is caused by a CAG repeat expansion mutation in the androgen receptor (AR) gene, and mutant AR is presumed to act in motoneurons to cause SBMA. However, we found that mice overexpressing wild-type (wt) AR solely in skeletal muscle fibers display the same androgen-dependent disease phenotype as when mutant AR is broadly expressed, challenging the assumptions that only an expanded AR can induce disease and that SBMA is strictly neurogenic. We have previously reported that AR toxicity was ligand dependent in our model, and that very few transgenic (tg) males survived beyond birth.

[Effect of the first water-sediment regulation on the variations of dissolved inorganic nutrients' concentrations and fluxes in the lower main channel of the Yellow River].

The variations and fluxes of dissolved inorganic nutrients were studied, based on continuously monitored data in the lower main channel of Yellow River (Lijin) during the period of water-sediment regulation in July 2002. Concentrations rang from 169.3 to 273.

[Analysis of clinical characteristics of gastrointestinal cancer in Heilongjiang province, China 1998 to 2007].

Objective: To provide basic information for epidemiological research of gastrointestinal (GI) malignant tumors.

Methods: Data of GI cancer diagnosed in 15 hospitals of Heilongjiang province between January 1998 and December 2007 were analyzed retrospectively. The data mainly involved the age of onset, initial symptoms, pathological types, clinical staging and types of surgical procedure.

Altered RNA splicing contributes to skeletal muscle pathology in Kennedy disease knock-in mice.

Here, we used a mouse model of Kennedy disease, a degenerative disorder caused by an expanded CAG repeat in the androgen receptor (AR) gene, to explore pathways leading to cellular dysfunction. We demonstrate that male mice containing a targeted Ar allele with 113 CAG repeats (AR113Q mice) exhibit hormone- and glutamine length-dependent missplicing of Clcn1 RNA in skeletal muscle. Changes in RNA splicing are associated with increased expression of the RNA-binding protein CUGBP1.

Simultaneous determination of herbicide mefenacet and its metabolites residues in river water by solid phase extraction and rapid resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry with pre-column derivatization.

A procedure based on solid phase extraction (SPE) has been developed for the simultaneous pre-concentration of herbicide mefenacet (MN) and its three photolysis degradation products. Three metabolites studied were hydroxylbenzothiazole (HBT), N-methylaniline (N-MA) and 2-benzothiazoloxyacetic acid (2-BAA). A trimethylsilylation derivatization method was applied for the analysis of HBT and 2-BAA which were derivatized to be corresponding derivatives D-1 and D-2, respectively, and a rapid resolution liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (RRLC-ESI-MS) system was used for the separation, identification and quantification of these four analytes.