High-affinity tags fused to s-layer proteins probed by atomic force microscopy.

Two-dimensional, crystalline bacterial cell surface layers, termed S-layers, are one of the most commonly observed cell surface structures of prokaryotic organisms. In the present study, genetically modified S-layer protein SbpA of Bacillus sphaericus CCM 2177 carrying the short affinity peptide Strep-tag I or Strep-tag II at the C terminus was used to generate a 2D crystalline monomolecular protein lattice on a silicon surface. Because of the genetic modification, the 2D crystals were addressable via Strep-tag through streptavidin molecules.

[Protective effect of heat-shock protein 27 on myocardium with isoflurane preconditioning in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury of myocardium in rabbit].

Objective: To investigate the mechanism and the protective effect of heart-shock protein 27 (HSP27) on rabbit myocardium with isoflurane preconditioning in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury.

Methods: Thirty New Zealand white rabbits were randomly assigned to three groups (each n = 10):(1)Sham operation group (C group); (2)I/R group; (3)Two percent in volume is of isoflurane group (S group). S group was exposed to 2.

[Impact of people's social behavior on schistosomiasis transmission in the Three Gorges Reservoir area].

Objective: To investigate the changes in natural ecology and social environment after the construction of the dam in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, and to understand the social behavior status and education backgrounds of the local residents, and to analyze the potential impact of these factors on schistosomiasis spreading.

Methods: Data of nature and social economy after the construction of the dam in the Three Gorge area were collected, and a cross-sectional study with questionnaire survey on information including social demographic characteristics, people's production and life style, knowledge about schistosomiasis was conducted among natives, emigrations.

Results: After the construction of the dam, as the stream became slower, the water-level fluctuating zone on the bank of the reservoir was formed.

Atomic force microscopy imaging and single molecule recognition force spectroscopy of coat proteins on the surface of Bacillus subtilis spore.

Coat assembly in Bacillus subtilis serves as a tractable model for the study of the self-assembly process of biological structures and has a significant potential for use in nano-biotechnological applications. In the present study, the morphology of B. subtilis spores was investigated by magnetically driven dynamic force microscopy (MAC mode atomic force microscopy) under physiological conditions.

Increased expression of c-fos protein associated with increased matrix metalloproteinase-9 protein expression in the endometrium of endometriotic patients.

Objective: To investigate c-fos and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression in the endometrium from women with or without endometriosis throughout the menstrual cycle, and to explore the correlation of c-fos expression with MMP-9 expression and 17beta-E(2) levels in serum.

Design: Molecular studies in human tissue.

Setting: A women's hospital in China.

Fabrication of photonic crystals with nigrosine-doped poly(MMA-co-DVB-co-MAA) particles.

A convenient approach was developed to fabricate monodisperse nigrosine-doped poly(methyl methacrylate-co-divinylbenzene-co-methacrylic acid) nanoparticles with different cross-linkage by soap-free emulsion polymerization at boiling status and swelling process. The dye-doped nanoparticles were used for the fabrication of colloidal crystal films and beads. It was found that nigrosine dye in the nanoparticles can efficiently depress the light scattering inside the colloidal crystal films and eliminate the iridescent effect in the photonic beads.

[Chronic hepatitis B virus infection and the methylation status of p16INK4A promoter].

Objective: To explore the relationship among HBV-associated histopathological indexes, x gene mutations and the methylation status of p16INK4A promoter in liver with chronic hepatitis B virus infection, in order to illustrate their role in p16INK4A hypermethylation and HCC progression.

Methods: Twenty-three cases of surgically resected HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma and twenty-five fine needle aspiration biopsy cases of chronic hepatitis B were chosen for this study. The methylation status of the p16INK4A promoter in tumors, their corresponding peritumoral samples and chronic hepatitis B cases was determined by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP).

Association of p16INK4A hypermethylation with hepatitis B virus X protein expression in the early stage of HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis.

The aim of the present study was to explore the relationship between methylation status of the p16(INK4A) promoter and some HBV-related factors, and the role of these factors in p16(INK4A) hypermethylation and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression. Twenty-three cases of surgically resected HBV-associated HCC and 25 fine-needle aspiration biopsy cases of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) were studied. The methylation status of the p16(INK4A) promoter was determined by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

A new, simple method for linking of antibodies to atomic force microscopy tips.

Functionalization of atomic force microscope (AFM) tips with bioligands converts them into monomolecular biosensors which can detect complementary receptor molecules on the sample surface. Flexible PEG tethers are preferred because the bioligand can freely reorient and locally palpate the sample surface while the AFM tip is moved along. In a well-established coupling scheme [Hinterdorfer et al.

Familial aggregation of human susceptibility to co- and multiple helminth infections in a population from the Poyang Lake region, China.

Human helminthiases are common in China, especially in rural areas where sanitation conditions are poor. Co- and multiple infections with helminths are strikingly frequent. A cross-sectional parasitological and questionnaire survey was carried out in a population of 3205 individuals belonging to 498 families from five villages in the Poyang Lake region, Jiangxi Province, China, to assess their helminth infection status and to collect information on risk factors for infection.

Dynamic force microscopy imaging of plasmid DNA and viral RNA.

Plasmid DNA and viral RNA were imaged in a liquid environment by dynamic force microscopy (DFM) and fine structures of DNA with heights of 1.82+/-0.66 nm were obtained in topographical images.

Optical brightener M2R destroys the peritrophic membrane of Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) larvae.

Observations under an environmental scanning electron microscope showed that the peritrophic membrane (PM) of Spodoptera exigua (Hübner) was smooth without pores, but there were many pores and slits in the PM of larvae fed with 10 g L(-1) optical brightener Calcofluor white M2R. After incubation of S. exigua PM in vitro with 10 g L(-1) M2R, a significant amount of proteins was released from the PM structure.

[Effects of land surface temperature on supervising the existing area of snails].

Objective: To discuss the land surface temperature's effect on supervising the areas with snails, comparing the land surface temperature (LST) of the areas with snails with the LST of those without snails.

Methods: Choosing the lake areas of farmland in Jiangxi Province and the beach in the bank of Ganjiang, dividing into four areas according to snails. Picking up the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and LST from the remote sensing data to find the difference between the areas with snails and the areas without snails, so as to illuminate the effects of the LST on distinguishing the areas with snails.

[Application of global positioning system and geographic information system in surveillance of schistosomiasis].

Objective: To use the snail survey data of Yugan, Jiangxi Province as an example to evaluate the effects and advantages of global positioning system integrated with digital maps and remote sensing data in order to manage and analyze the whole country's surveillance data of schistosomiasis by using geographic information system.

Methods: The data of geographic information and snail information of 20 marshlands in Yugan, Jiangxi Province were collected, and by the correction of remote sensing images based on the digital maps and index extraction, the snail current situation and trend were analyzed and expressed.

Results: A series of specific procedure images of these 20 marshlands was established and the effects of Yugan surveillance platform based on geographic information system were validated.

Molecular characterisation and inductive expression of a fish protein arginine methyltransferase 1 gene in response to virus infection.

Protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1) is currently thought as an effector to regulate interferon (IFN) signalling. Here Paralichthys olivaceus PRMT1 (PoPRMT1) gene was identified as a virally induced gene from UV-inactivated Scophthalmus maximus Rhabdovirus (SMRV)-infected flounder embryonic cells (FEC). PoPMRT1 encodes a 341-amino-acid protein that shares the conserved domains including post-I, motif I, II and III.

The innate immune response to grass carp hemorrhagic virus (GCHV) in cultured Carassius auratus blastulae (CAB) cells.

Virus infection of mammalian cells activates an innate antiviral immune response characterized by production of interferon (IFN) and the subsequent transcriptional upregulation of IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs) by the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Here, we report that a fish cell line, crucian carp (Carassius auratus L.) blastulae embryonic (CAB) cells, can produce IFN activity and then form an antiviral state after infection with UV-inactivated grass carp hemorrhagic virus (GCHV), a double-stranded (ds) RNA virus.

[Overexpression of NDRG1: relationship with proliferative activity and invasiveness of breast cancer cell line and breast cancer metastasis].

Objective: To investigate the relationship between NDRG1 and metastasis of breast cancer and the effects of NDRG1 overexpression on the proliferation and invasion of breast cancer cells.

Methods: NDRG1 was detected at its protein level by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and its messenger RNA (mRNA) was detected by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR) in clinical breast cancer specimens. Liposome was used to transiently transfer NDRG1 into MDA-MB-231, a highly invasive human breast cancer cell line.

Molecular cloning and stress-induced expression of paralichthys olivaceus heme-regulated initiation factor 2alpha kinase.

The heme-regulated initiation factor 2alpha kinase (HRI) is acknowledged to play an important role in translational shutoff in reticulocytes in response to various cellular stresses. In this study, we report its homologous cDNA cloning and characterization from cultured flounder embryonic cells (FEC) after treatment with UV-inactivated grass carp haemorrhagic virus (GCHV). The full-length cDNA of Paralichthys olivaceus HRI homologue (PoHRI) has 2391 bp and encodes a protein of 651 amino acids.

Regulation of MUC5AC mucin secretion by depletion of AQP5 in SPC-A1 cells.

Airway mucus is regulated by many inflammatory mediators such as ILs, TNF-alpha, EGF, PGF2alpha, LT, and so on. Recently, the relationship between membrane ion channel and mucus production has been under investigation. The present study aimed to examine whether AQP5 was involved in modulation of mucin expression and secretion in airway submucosal gland cells (SPC-A1).

Potential role of short hairpin RNA targeting epidermal growth factor receptor in growth and sensitivity to drugs of human lung adenocarcinoma cells.

Upregulation of expression and activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is involved in the development and progression of a wide range of human cancers. The present study aims at determining gene-silencing effects of vector-based short hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting EGFR on receptor expression and cell growth and evaluating its modulation of responsiveness to drugs in human lung adenocarcinoma cells (HLAC). A vector-based polymerase 3-promotor system was used to express shRNA targeting EGFR in HLAC lines (A549 and SPC-A1).

Prognostic analysis in chronic hepatitis B patients: a retrospective study of 216 cases about Scheuer scores, in situ expression of viral antigens and tissue hepatitis B virus DNA levels.

Background: Most of the previous studies of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection concentrated on serum samples. Liver biopsy specimens for HBV have not been systematically analyzed. This study was performed to analyze some histopathological indicators (Scheuer scores, the expression of HBV antigens in situ, HBV DNA quantification) in the biopsy samples and showed the relationship among them and the prognosis of chronic hepatitis.

Generalized Poisson distribution: the property of mixture of Poisson and comparison with negative binomial distribution.

We prove that the generalized Poisson distribution GP(theta, eta) (eta > or = 0) is a mixture of Poisson distributions; this is a new property for a distribution which is the topic of the book by Consul (1989). Because we find that the fits to count data of the generalized Poisson and negative binomial distributions are often similar, to understand their differences, we compare the probability mass functions and skewnesses of the generalized Poisson and negative binomial distributions with the first two moments fixed. They have slight differences in many situations, but their zero-inflated distributions, with masses at zero, means and variances fixed, can differ more.

Glass surfaces grafted with high-density poly(ethylene glycol) as substrates for DNA oligonucleotide microarrays.

Surfaces carrying a dense layer of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) were prepared, characterized, and tested as substrates for DNA oligonucleotide microarrays. PEG bis(amine) with a molecular weight of 2000 was grafted onto silanized glass slides bearing aldehyde groups. After grafting, the terminal amino groups of the PEG layer were derivatized with the heterobifunctional cross-linker succinimidyl 4-[p-maleimidophenyl]butyrate to permit the immobilization of thiol-modified DNA oligonucleotides.

Downregulation of aquaporin 5 induced by vector-based short hairpin RNA and its effect on MUC5AC gene expression in human airway submucosal gland cells.

The aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of homologous water channels expressed in many epithelial and endothelial cells, however no reliable and non-toxic inhibitors of AQPs have been reported yet. Our researchers have analyzed the changes of AQP5 expression induced by vector-based short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in the human airway submucosal gland cell line (SPC-A1) and observed its regulation on the expression of MUC5AC gene. Localizations of AQP5 and MUC5AC in SPC-A1cells were detected by Immunofluorescence.

Familial aggregation of human infection with Schistosoma japonicum in the Poyang Lake region, China.

Despite the success of extensive control measures that have been implemented in China for over 50 years, the number of individuals infected with Schistosoma japonicum remains high in the existing endemic areas. A variance components analysis was undertaken to estimate the heritable and environmental components that contribute to S. japonicum infection in the Poyang Lake region of Jiangxi Province, PR China.