Noggin signaling from Xenopus animal blastomere lineages promotes a neural fate in neighboring vegetal blastomere lineages.

In Xenopus, localized factors begin to regionalize embryonic fates prior to the inductive interactions that occur during gastrulation. We previously reported that an animal-to-vegetal signal that occurs prior to gastrulation promotes primary spinal neuron fate in vegetal equatorial (C-tier) blastomere lineages. Herein we demonstrate that maternal mRNA encoding noggin is enriched in animal tiers and at low concentrations in the C-tier, suggesting that the neural fates of C-tier blastomeres may be responsive to early signaling from their neighboring cells. In support of this hypothesis, experimental alteration of the levels of Noggin from animal equatorial (B-tier) or BMP4 from vegetal (D-tier) blastomeres significantly affects the numbers of primary spinal neurons derived from their neighboring C-tier blastomeres. These effects are duplicated in blastomere explants isolated at cleavage stages and cultured in the absence of gastrulation interactions. Co-culture with animal blastomeres enhanced the expression of zygotic neural markers in C-tier blastomere explants, whereas co-culture with vegetal blastomeres repressed them. The expression of these markers in C-tier explants was promoted when Noggin was transiently added to the culture during cleavage/morula stages, and repressed with the transient addition of BMP4. Reduction of Noggin translation in B-tier blastomeres by antisense morpholino oligonucleotides significantly reduced the efficacy of neural marker induction in C-tier explants. These experiments indicate that early anti-BMP signaling from the animal hemisphere recruits vegetal equatorial cells into the neural precursor pool prior to interactions that occur during gastrulation.     

Body weight and abdominal fat gene expression profile in response to a novel hydroxycitric acid-based dietary supplement

Obesity is a global public health problem, with about 315 million people worldwide estimated to fall into the WHO-defined obesity categories. Traditional herbal medicines may have some potential in managing obesity. Botanical dietary supplements often contain complex mixtures of phytochemicals that have additive or synergistic interactions. The dried fruit rind of Garcinia cambogia, also known as Malabar tamarind, is a unique source of (-)-hydroxycitric acid (HCA), which exhibits a distinct sour taste and has been safely used for centuries in Southeastern Asia to make meals more filling. Recently it has been demonstrated that HCA-SX or Super Citrimax, a novel derivative of HCA, is safe when taken orally and that HCA-SX is bioavailable in the human plasma as studied by GC-MS. Although HCA-SX has been observed to be conditionally effective in weight management in experimental animals as well as in humans, its mechanism of action remains to be understood. We sought to determine the effects of low-dose oral HCA-SX on the body weight and abdominal fat gene expression profile of Sprague-Dawley rats. We observed that at doses relevant for human consumption dietary HCA-SX significantly contained body weight growth. This response was associated with lowered abdominal fat leptin expression while plasma leptin levels remained unaffected. Repeated high-density microarray analysis of 9960 genes and ESTs present in the fat tissue identified a small set (approximately 1% of all genes screened) of specific genes sensitive to dietary HCA-SX. Other genes, including vital genes transcribing for mitochondrial/nuclear proteins and which are necessary for fundamental support of the tissue, were not affected by HCA-SX. Under the current experimental conditions, HCA-SX proved to be effective in restricting body weight gain in adult rats. Functional characterization of HCA-SX-sensitive genes revealed that upregulation of genes encoding serotonin receptors represent a distinct effect of dietary HCA-SX supplementation.     

Modulation of humoral immune responses by endogenous opioids

The effects of opioid agonists and antagonists were investigated on humoral immune mechanisms in mice and rats. Opioid agonists like morphine, Leu-enkephalin, and Met-enkephalin, enhanced antigen-induced histamine release from mixed peritoneal cells of rats in vitro; this enhancement was effectively antagonized by naloxone, an opioid antagonist. Naloxone, per se, decreased anaphylactic mortality in doses of 10 mg/kg, while it increased mortality in a dose of 1 mg/kg. Reduced IgE antibody titer, measured by passive cutaneous anaphylaxis, decreased hemagglutination titer to sheep red blood cells, blocked histamine release from mixed peritoneal cells of rats in vitro induced by antigen, but had no significant effect when histamine release was induced by compound 48/80. Thus, it appears that endogenous opioids are involved in humoral immune responses.     

台前县居民股骨头坏死流行现状及其影响因素

目的 了解台前县居民股骨头坏死流行现状及可能的影响因素。方法 采用普查方式,对河南省台前县辖区内的常住人口入户进行股骨头坏死筛查,对于体格检查中发现的具有典型症状的疑似病例进行影像学检查予以确诊。以既往确诊为股骨头坏死的患者为病例组,按照1∶1匹配在同村同性别同年龄组（年龄差≤3岁）中选取排除骨科相关疾病的健康者为对照组,采用自行设计的调查问卷对病例组和对照组进行面对面调查。结果 共发现股骨头坏死患者1 126例,粗现患率3.01‰。男性714例,粗现患率1.91‰;女性412例,粗现患率1.10‰。≤14岁粗现患率0.024‰,15~59岁粗现患率1.76‰,≥60岁粗现患率1.22‰。多因素条件Logistic回归分析显示,家庭收入>10 000元（OR=0.504）是股骨头坏死保护因素,以前饮酒（OR=2.597）、使用激素类药物（OR=18.926）和髋关节疾病家族史（OR=6.443）是股骨头坏死的危险因素。结论 台前县股骨头坏死患病率较高,男性多于女性,好发于青壮年,股骨头坏死与家庭收入、以前饮酒、使用激素类药物和髋关节疾病家族史有关。     

献血者中TTV感染情况调查及部分序列分析

目的调查了解淮阴地区献血者中一种新的肝炎相关病毒——TTV的感染情况.方法用巢式聚合酶链反应(nest-PCR)技术对淮阴地区220名专业献血者进行血清中输血传播病毒(TTV)的检测,并在PUC18中对其开放读码框2(ORF2)基因进行了克隆.结果序列分析表明,该序列与国内外发现的TT病毒AB008394(日本株)、AF079173(中国河北株)对应位置核苷酸同源性为98%和97%,献血者中TT病毒阳性率为18%.结论病毒ORF2基因高度保守,献血者中有较高的TTV感染率.     

基于PERK/eIF2α/ATF4/CHOP 信号通路探讨银杏内酯B 治疗代谢性脂肪性肝病的作用

目的：通过动物实验验证银杏内酯B (GB)治疗代谢性脂肪性肝病（MAFLD）的作用是否与调控PERK/eIF2α/ATF4/CHOP信号通路,抑制内质网应激,减少肝细胞凋亡及炎症反应相关。方法：72只雄性SD大鼠随机分为正常组,模型组,辛伐他汀组,GB低、中、高剂量（GB-L、GB-M、GB-H）组（n=12）,高脂高糖饲料喂养12周构建MAFLD模型（正常组除外）。治疗8周后,收集血清和肝组织。生化试剂盒检测血脂和肝脂[总胆固醇（TC）、甘油三酯（TG）、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇（HDL-C）、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇（LDL-C）]及肝功能[天冬氨酸氨基转移酶（AST）、丙氨酸氨基转移酶（ALT）];酶联免疫吸附法（ELISA）法检测血清和肝脏中的炎性因子[白细胞介素-6 (IL-6)、白细胞介素-1 (IL-1)、肿瘤坏死因子-α (TNF-α)]水平;HE染色、油红O染色观察肝组织病理学;Western blot法检测肝脏组织中GRP78、PERK、p-eIF2α、ATF4、CHOP、Bcl-2和Bax的蛋白表达。结果：肝脏组织病理学显示,与正常组相比,模型组大鼠肝脏脂肪变性显著,与模型组...     

Double-stranded RNA and bacterial lipopolysaccharide enhance sensitivit to TNF-{alpha}-mediated cell death

The effect of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) and bacterial lipopolysaccharideon the sensitivity to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)--medlatedcell death was studied In an In vitro system. Since secretionof TNF- Is a part of the early host response to viral and bacterialinfection, we examined whether mimicking the Infection withviral and bacterial products could affect the response of cellsto TNF-. Incubation of WEHI 164 fibrosarcoma cells with dsRNAor lipopolysaccharide (LPS) significantly increased their sensitivityto TNF--mediated lysis and to TNF-secreting inflammatory T cell-mediatedlysis. Thus, these products could induce Increased sensitivityto TNF- In cells In an inflammatory focus, possibly contributingto selective elimination of Infected but not healthy cells bythis non-specific cytokine. Additionally, our data show thatboth dsRNA and LPS, as well as TNF- Itself, rapidly Induce nuclearfactor-xB (NF-*B), a DNA-bindlng protein Implicated In regulationof gene expression. We suggest that NF-xB could regulate genescrucial for the induction of cell death by TNF-.