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Abstract ATP-citrate lyase (ACL), one of the lipogenic enzymes, catalyses the formation of acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) involved in the synthesis of fatty acid and cholesterol. In pig, very little is known about the ACL gene. In this work, the mRNA differential display technique was used to analyse the differences in gene expression between Meishan and Large White pigs and the F1 hybrids of both direct and reciprocal crosses. Our results show that among the differentially expressed genes ACL is up-regulated in the backfat of the F1 hybrids. After cloning and analysing the fulllength cDNA and the 870 bp 5'-flanking sequence of the porcine ACL gene, a C/T mutation at position -97 bp upstream of the transcription site was detected. Luciferase activity detection showed that this mutation changed the transcriptional activity. In F1 hybrids, the heterozygous genotype CT was more frequent than the homozygous genotypes CC and TT. Real-time PCR analysis showed that in Meishan pigs, ACL mRNA expression was more abundant in individuals with genotype CT than in those with genotype CC or TT or in Large White pigs. These results indicate that the C/T mutation affects ACL mRNA expression, probably via the activator protein 2.

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Objectives To investigate the six-week influence of acupuncture on sleep quality and daytime functioning in primary insomnia. Methods The study was a double-dummy, single-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. A total of 180 patients with primary insomnia were randomly assigned to 3 groups: verum group underwent verum acupuncture plus placebo; estazolam group underwent estazolam plus sham acupuncture; sham group underwent sham acupuncture plus placebo. The outcome was measured by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the 36-item short-form health survey (SF-36). Results The three groups showed significant improvement compared with the pretreatment baseline. Compared with the other two groups, the verum group reported improved sleep quality (SQ) and vitality (VT), decreased daytime dysfunction (DD) and sleepiness (ESS score). The differences were kept from the treatment period to the end of the trial. Discussion Verum acupuncture appeared to be more effective in increasing sleep quality and daytime functioning than sham acupuncture and estazolam. Trial Registration The trial is registeded with ClinicalTrials.gov ISRCTN12585433. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stored-product beetles were regarded as some of the most important stored-product pests in the world. Predicting which one in hundreds of potential invasive stored-product beetles is the most likely to invade a region presents a significant challenge. A global presence/absence dataset, including 201 economically significant stored beetles in 143 countries/regions, was analysed using a Self-Organizing Map (SOM) to categorize regions based on similarities in species assemblages. This method is able to rank these stored-product beetles based on risk of establishment indices (values between 0 and 1). From the six countries/regions selected from each continent, we can have an overview of the global invasive risk of this group of beetles. We also found that those countries geographically close were clustered together by the SOM analysis because they have similar beetle assemblages and therefore represent greater threats to each other as sources of invasive stored-product beetles.