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This study characterized the whole genome of Companilactobacillus futsaii subsp. chongqingii CQ16Z1 isolated from Chongqing of China, performed genome sequence analysis with Companilactobacillus futsaii subsp. futsaii YM0097 isolated from Taiwan of China, and experimentally verified drug resistance and effect on the exploratory behavior of male C57BL/6 mice and analysis of gut microbiota and metabolomic studies. The genome of CQ16Z1 is 2.6 Mb. Sequence analysis between genomes showed that the two strains are Companilactobacillus futsaii. The unique genes of CQ16Z1 and YM0097 are 217 and 267, which account for 9% and 11% of the whole genomes, respectively. According to unique gene annotation, the results showed that genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism, environmental information processing, metabolism of cofactors and vitamins, cell wall/membrane/envelope biogenesis, phage and drug resistance are significantly different. The results of the drug resistance experiment showed that YM0097 had different degrees of resistance to 13 antibiotics, while CQ16Z1 was sensitive to more than half of them. YM0097 contains 9 prophage regions and CQ16Z1 contains 3 prophage regions. The results of the open field test showed that the time (P = 0.005; P = 0.047) and distance (P < 0.010; P = 0.046) of the central area of Y97 group and CQ group are significantly different from the control group. The results of the elevated plus maze test showed that compared with the control group, Y97 group had significant differences in the number of entries to the open arms and the percentage of open arms entry times (P = 0.004; P = 0.025), while the difference between the CQ group and the control group was not significant. YM0097 has a more obvious effect on the exploratory behavior of mice. The effects of YM0097 and CQ16Z1 on the intestinal flora of mice are also different. YM0097 may be more beneficial to the intestinal flora of the host. And LC/MS also showed that the metabolic effects of the two strains on the host are different. Finally, we believe that YM0097 is more suitable for application research as a psychobiotics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the major endeavor of Taiwan anthropology’s study of the ethnic Han during the 1960s and 1970s focused on dimensions of culture and society harking back to the Qing dynasty, there remained in the background a powerful but unsatisfied curiosity regarding contemporary China. The opening up of China to fieldwork initiated a period of new concern with the present, in China research, to be sure, but also for anthropology in Taiwan. The middle-class transformation of society on both sides of the Taiwan Straits created the environment for a new phase of anthropological research. For China anthropology the middle class has become a defining element in the study both of those who are in it and those marginal to it. Middle-class characteristics now dominate this anthropology, ranging from the emergence of individualism and the triumph of the commodified and commodity-seeking self to the struggle for place in an insecure and rapidly changing class setting, to nationalism, and even to the impact of automobile ownership. Contrasts with Taiwan highlight and make explicit how China ethnologies share a framework of research and analysis, albeit one not defined by shared theoretical approaches, but nevertheless one that might be usefully and critically expanded to include comparable areas of concern in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan is a mountainous island, and nearly 75% of its lands are 1000 m above sea level. Formosan wood mice, Apodemus semotus, are endemic rodents and are broadly distributed at altitudes between 1400 and 3700 m in Taiwan. Interestingly, Formosan wood mice show similar locomotor activity in the laboratory as they do in the wild. Hence, we are interested in studying whether exploratory behaviors and central dopaminergic activity are changed in the open field test.We usedmale C57BL/6J mice as the control, comparing their behavioral responses in the open field, step-down inhibitory avoidance discrimination and novel object recognition tests with those of male Formosan wood mice. We also examined dopamine and its major metabolite 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid in the medial prefrontal cortex, striatum and nucleus accumbens. In open field tests, Formosan wood mice revealed higher levels of locomotion and exploration than C57BL/6J mice. Learning and memory performance in the novel object recognition test was similar in both Formosan wood mice and C57BL/6J mice, but more agile responses in the inhibitory avoidance discrimination task were found in Formosan wood mice. There was no difference in behavioral responses in the open field test between new second-generation Formosan wood mice and Formosan wood mice that were inbred for more than 10 generations. After repeated exposure to the open field test, high levels of locomotion and exploration as well as central dopaminergic activities were markedly persistent in Formosan wood mice, but these activities were significantly reduced in C57BL/6J mice. Diazepam (anxiolytic) treatment reduced the higher exploratory activity and central dopaminergic activities in Formosan wood mice, but this treatment had no effect in C57BL/6J mice. This study provides comparative findings, as two phylogenetically related species showed differences in behavioral responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paeonia lactiflora (PL) was widely used for pain relief, but its effects on migraine headaches remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of PL on migraine headaches. First, we found that PL was frequently used in Taiwan for headache treatment based on data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. Migraine was induced through the intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of nitroglycerin (NTG, 10 mg/kg) in rats. Pretreatment with PL was administered orally 30 min prior to the NTG i.p. Migraine headache behavior was observed by video-recordings. Finally, the rats were sacrificed and brain was removed for immunohistochemistry staining analysis. The frequency and total time spent rearing up and sniffing in exploratory behavior, and walking in locomotor behavior, were reduced in the NTG group compared with the control group (all p < 0.001). This reduction could be ameliorated by pretreatment with PL 1.0 g/kg (all p < 0.05). Total time spent in the light chamber was lower in the NTG group compared with the control group (p < 0.05); this could be ameliorated by pretreatment with 1.0 g/kg PL (p < 0.05). The rats in the NTG group spent longer time on the smooth surface than those in the control group (p < 0.001); this could be shortened by pretreatment with 0.5 and 1.0 g/kg PL (both p < 0.01). The traveling distance of rats in the NTG group was shorter than in the control group (p < 0.001); rats given 1.0 g/kg PL had a longer traveling distance than those in the NTG group (p < 0.01). Both c-fos and CGRP immunoreactive cells increased in the TNC in the NTG group compared with that of the control group (both p < 0.001); this increased could be reduced by pretreatment with PL 0.5 and 1.0 g/kg (both p < 0.05). Pretreatment with PL ameliorated migraine headache behaviors in the NTG-induced migraine rat model, suggesting pretreatment with PL is beneficial for migraine headache treatment. This effect of PL is related to the decrease of c-fos and CGRP in the TNC. However, still there are too many methodological limitations which need to be overcome in further experiments to support the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]