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Vitexin, a millet-derived flavonoid, has been reported to have many biological activities. The present study investigated the function of vitexin in neural oxidative stress and neuro-inflammation through H2O2 induced oxidative damage cell model and high-fat diet (HFD)-induced mice model. Both of in vitro and in vivo data indicated that vitexin could reduce the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), increase the activity and expression of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), as well as down regulate the expression of inflammatory factors, such as TNF-α and IL-1β. Additionally, low dose vitexin (10 mg/kg) significantly decreased HFD induced oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain and intestine simultaneously in mice. Analysis of fecal microbiota suggested that vitexin changed the composition of the gut microbiota in HFD mice and regulated inflammation by modulating the richness of specific bacteria such as Akkermansia, Lachnospiraceae, etc. Our findings suggested that vitexin exerted neural protective effects via anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and gut microbiota modulating properties.

Taxol-resistance gene 1 (TXR1) is closely correlated with the paclitaxel resistance in the cancer chemotherapy. However, due to the lack of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) with strong specificity and high sensitivity, little information is found about TXR1 target-related tumor therapy.We developed an TXR1 recombinant DNA vaccine by inserting TXR1 DNA sequence into lysosome-associated membrane protein 1 (LAMP1). Adaptive immune responses were assessed by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Enzyme-linked immunospot test (ELISpot), and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) cytotoxicity.The pGEX4T-1-TXR1 reconstructed prokaryotic expression plasmid was constructed for producing high-purity TXR1 protein. Subsequently, a total of four mAbs for TXR1 and two PcAbs were successfully constructed and identified. We further found that TXR1 was highly expressed in breast cancer tissue than normal controls. Therefore, we constructed four tumor vectors, pVAX1-LAMP/TXR1, pVAX1-LAMP, pVAX1/TXR1 and pVAX1, for immunization. After three times of immunization, ELISpot data showed that single peptide 6,9,11 could stimulate T cells secreting IFN-γ in pVAX1-LAMP/TXR1 group. Moreover, the number of specific T cells and immune response effects significantly increased comparing to the pVAX1-LAMP control group. In addition, cytotoxicity showed that when the effect to target ratio was 40:l the killing effect of pVAX1-LAMP/TXR1 group was significantly higher than the pVAX1-TXR1 group.Our results provides new evidence for the TXR1 related tumor immunology and aids the early prevention of cancer.

A gene encoding cutinase (MtCUT) from Myceliophthora thermophila was expressed in Pichia pastoris. The optimal temperature and pH for MtCUT were 30 °C and 8.5, respectively. MtCUT showed high activities toward a broad range of p-nitrophenyl esters, and the highest specific activity was recorded for p-nitrophenyl butyrate. MtCUT hydrolyzed and broke down apple cutin into C16 and C18 family fatty acids. MtCUT could efficiently degrade polycaprolactone (PCL), the weight loss of which was 78.5% in 36 h. In addition, MtCUT could degrade PVAc, a kind of adhesive that is frequently used in papermaking and in synthetic toner or ink. Its performance in the deinking of waste papers was investigated and compared with that of commercial lipase in this study. The results showed that an ink removal efficiency of 78.4% on laser-printed paper and 81.3% on newspaper was obtained using MtCUT at 30 °C, which was better than that of lipase from Candida rugosa (CrLIP) (77.0% and 76.0%, respectively). The properties of the MtCUT-treated samples were similar to that of the control samples. This revealed that the cutinase MtCUT from M. thermophila has a great potential in PCL hydrolysis and the deinking process.

Background Prophylaxis is widely adopted the best choice against Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) caused by Hantavirus. However, loss of memory immune response maintenance remains as major shortcoming in current HFRS vaccine. A recombinant DNA vaccine, pVAX-LAMP/Gn was previously proved efficient, requiring long-term evaluations. Methods & results Immune responses of Balb/c mice were assessed by specific and neutralizing antibodies, interferon-γ ELISpot assay, and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte cytotoxicity assay. HTNV-challenge assay identified long-term protection. Safety was confirmed by histological and behavioral analysis. Epitope-spreading phenomenon was noted, revealing two sets of dominant T-cell epitopes cross-species. Conclusion pVAX-LAMP/Gn established memory responses within a long-term protection. Lysosome-targeted strategy showed promise on Gn-based DNA vaccine and further investigations are warranted in other immunogenic Hantaviral antigens.

Land degradation/desertification occurs widely in arid lands and its outcomes are ecologically, economically, and socially negative. It is one of the most serious environmental problems that the world has to face today. The establishment of shelterbelts is an effective way to combat desertification and increase crop productivity in arid land farming practices. The ideal state of a farmland shelterbelt should be one that provides maximum protective effect with minimum use in terms of land and water resources. The positive effects of the shelter forest in desertification control were widely demonstrated. However, its effects on crop productivity are somewhat equivocal. Most studies were carried out at the plot or field scale, for evaluation on areas larger than the field-scale or plot-scale is difficult to undertake due to difficulties in setting controls. Thus, a comprehensive evaluation of the shelterbelt effect on crop yield at landscape scale is highly required. This study presents a rare insight into the optimum balance between minimizing the quantity of shelterbelts and maximizing the yield of crops based on the combination of a light-use-efficiency model (CASA) and landscape indices from a landscape ecology perspective. Farmland has rapidly expanded by 43 % in the Manas River Basin of Xinjiang, Northwest (NW) China, since 2000. Overexploitation of land resources and limited water resources lead to serious land degradation. However, development of shelterbelts was left behind in this area with an increase of 29.39 % only during this period. The shelterbelts are not only quantitively insufficient but also irrational in spatial patterns. Cotton productivity was significantly correlated with the spatial patterns of shelterbelts. The optimum of shelterbelt-to-patch ratio for maximizing cotton yield was 3.5 % in the study area. When the amount of shelterbelts is higher than 3.5 %, it is no longer associated with improved cotton yield. Simultaneously, higher connectivity and ring values always corresponded to higher cotton yields. Hence, in future practices, we should first ensure a certain amount of shelterbelts, while simultaneously optimizing the spatial configuration of shelterbelts to maximize their benefits. After the quantity of shelterbelts reached 3.5 %, however, improving the quality (the spatial configuration) --- increasing their connectivity and ring value, becomes the only effective way to improve crop yield.