Search

The Ginkgo biloba is one of ancient trees that exists from billions of years ago, its leaf and nut are used as herbs and foods in China, while so far its pollen does not have any application except pollination. In order to evaluate the antioxidant activity of Ginkgo biloba pollen, and rapidly screen its antioxidative components, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging ability, total flavonoid, total phenol, and proanthocyanidin of Ginkgo biloba pollen were determined and compared with those of Ginkgo biloba leaf and nut, and the off-line DPPH-HPLC-PAD and HPLC-ESI-MS2 were applied for screening and identifying the antioxidant flavonoids in Ginkgo biloba pollen. The results showed that the DPPH scavenging ability of Ginkgo biloba pollen was much higher than Ginkgo biloba nut, but lower than Ginkgo biloba leaf, while the total content of flavonoid in Ginkgo biloba pollen was approximately 4.37 times higher than in Ginkgo biloba leaf. Further studies found that the major flavonol aglycone in Ginkgo biloba pollen was kaempferol, which accounted for 96.71% of the total aglycones (includes quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin), and the main flavonoid components in Ginkgo biloba pollen were flavonoid glycosides. Finally, ten antioxidant peaks were screened and identified to be flavonoids (including kaempferol and nine flavonoid glycosides), so flavonoids were likely to be the main antioxidant components in GP, and among them, three novel kaempferol glycosides (peaks 1, 2, and 3) were found in Ginkgo biloba pollen for the first time, which had never been found in Ginkgo biloba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exfoliative cytology has been widely used for early diagnosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Test outcome is reported as “negative”, “atypical” (defined as abnormal epithelial changes of uncertain diagnostic significance), and “positive” (defined as definitive cellular evidence of epithelial dysplasia or carcinoma). The major challenge is how to properly manage the “atypical” patients in order to diagnose OSCC early and prevent OSCC. In this study, we collected exfoliative cytology data, histopathology data, and clinical data of normal subjects (n=102), oral leukoplakia (OLK) patients (n=82), and OSCC patients (n=93), and developed a data analysis procedure for quantitative risk stratification of OLK patients. This procedure involving a step called expert-guided data transformation and reconstruction (EdTAR) which allows automatic data processing and reconstruction and reveals informative signals for subsequent risk stratification. Modern machine learning techniques were utilized to build statistical prediction models on the reconstructed data. Among the several models tested using resampling methods for parameter pruning and performance evaluation, Support Vector Machine (SVM) was found to be optimal with a high sensitivity (median>0.98) and specificity (median>0.99). With the SVM model, we constructed an oral cancer risk index (OCRI) which may potentially guide clinical follow-up of OLK patients. One OLK patient with an initial OCRI of 0.88 developed OSCC after 40 months of follow-up. In conclusion, we have developed a statistical method for qualitative risk stratification of OLK patients. This method may potentially improve cost-effectiveness of clinical follow-up of OLK patients, and help design clinical chemoprevention trial for high-risk populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silkworms are usually susceptible to the infection of Bombyx mori (B. mori) nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV), which can cause significant economic loss. However, some silkworm strains are identified to be highly resistant to BmNPV. To explore the silkworm genes involved in this resistance in the present study, we performed comparative real-time PCR, ATPase assay, over-expression and sub-cellular localization experiments. We found that when inoculated with BmNPV both the expression and activity of V-ATPase were significantly up-regulated in the midgut column cells (not the goblet cells) of BmNPV-resistant strains (NB and BC8), the main sites for the first step of BmNPV invasion, but not in those of a BmNPV-susceptible strain 306. Furthermore, this up-regulation mainly took place during the first 24 hours post inoculation (hpi), the essential period required for establishment of virus infection, and then was down-regulated to normal levels. Amazingly, transient over-expression of V-ATPase c subunit in BmNPV-infected silkworm cells could significantly inhibit BmNPV proliferation. To our knowledge this is the first report demonstrating clearly that V-ATPase is indeed involved in the defense response against BmNPV. Our data further suggests that prompt and potent regulation of V-ATPase may be essential for execution of this response, which may enable fast acidification of endosomes and/or lysosomes to render them competent for degradation of invading viruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ginkgo biloba is one of ancient trees that exists from billions of years ago, its leaf and nut are used as herbs and foods in China, while so far its pollen does not have any application except pollination. In order to evaluate the antioxidant activity of Ginkgo biloba pollen, and rapidly screen its antioxidative components, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging ability, total flavonoid, total phenol, and proanthocyanidin of Ginkgo biloba pollen were determined and compared with those of Ginkgo biloba leaf and nut, and the off-line DPPH-HPLC-PAD and HPLC-ESI-MS2 were applied for screening and identifying the antioxidant flavonoids in Ginkgo biloba pollen. The results showed that the DPPH scavenging ability of Ginkgo biloba pollen was much higher than Ginkgo biloba nut, but lower than Ginkgo biloba leaf, while the total content of flavonoid in Ginkgo biloba pollen was approximately 4.37 times higher than in Ginkgo biloba leaf. Further studies found that the major flavonol aglycone in Ginkgo biloba pollen was kaempferol, which accounted for 96.71% of the total aglycones (includes quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin), and the main flavonoid components in Ginkgo biloba pollen were flavonoid glycosides. Finally, ten antioxidant peaks were screened and identified to be flavonoids (including kaempferol and nine flavonoid glycosides), so flavonoids were likely to be the main antioxidant components in GP, and among them, three novel kaempferol glycosides (peaks 1, 2, and 3) were found in Ginkgo biloba pollen for the first time, which had never been found in Ginkgo biloba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ginkgo biloba is one of ancient trees that exists from billions of years ago, its leaf and nut are used as herbs and foods in China, while so far its pollen does not have any application except pollination. In order to evaluate the antioxidant activity of Ginkgo biloba pollen, and rapidly screen its antioxidative components, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging ability, total flavonoid, total phenol, and proanthocyanidin of Ginkgo biloba pollen were determined and compared with those of Ginkgo biloba leaf and nut, and the off-line DPPH-HPLC-PAD and HPLC-ESI-MS2 were applied for screening and identifying the antioxidant flavonoids in Ginkgo biloba pollen. The results showed that the DPPH scavenging ability of Ginkgo biloba pollen was much higher than Ginkgo biloba nut, but lower than Ginkgo biloba leaf, while the total content of flavonoid in Ginkgo biloba pollen was approximately 4.37 times higher than in Ginkgo biloba leaf. Further studies found that the major flavonol aglycone in Ginkgo biloba pollen was kaempferol, which accounted for 96.71% of the total aglycones (includes quercetin, kaempferol and isorhamnetin), and the main flavonoid components in Ginkgo biloba pollen were flavonoid glycosides. Finally, ten antioxidant peaks were screened and identified to be flavonoids (including kaempferol and nine flavonoid glycosides), so flavonoids were likely to be the main antioxidant components in GP, and among them, three novel kaempferol glycosides (peaks 1, 2, and 3) were found in Ginkgo biloba pollen for the first time, which had never been found in Ginkgo biloba., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Silkworms are usually susceptible to the infection of Bombyx mori (B. mori) nucleopolyhedrovirus (BmNPV), which can cause significant economic loss. However, some silkworm strains are identified to be highly resistant to BmNPV. To explore the silkworm genes involved in this resistance in the present study, we performed comparative real-time PCR, ATPase assay, over-expression and sub-cellular localization experiments. We found that when inoculated with BmNPV both the expression and activity of V-ATPase were significantly up-regulated in the midgut column cells (not the goblet cells) of BmNPV-resistant strains (NB and BC8), the main sites for the first step of BmNPV invasion, but not in those of a BmNPV-susceptible strain 306. Furthermore, this up-regulation mainly took place during the first 24 hours post inoculation (hpi), the essential period required for establishment of virus infection, and then was down-regulated to normal levels. Amazingly, transient over-expression of V-ATPase c subunit in BmNPV-infected silkworm cells could significantly inhibit BmNPV proliferation. To our knowledge this is the first report demonstrating clearly that V-ATPase is indeed involved in the defense response against BmNPV. Our data further suggests that prompt and potent regulation of V-ATPase may be essential for execution of this response, which may enable fast acidification of endosomes and/or lysosomes to render them competent for degradation of invading viruses.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common malignancy in the world. The risk of death is closely correlated to the stage of CRC at the time of primary diagnosis. Therefore, there is a compelling need for the identification of blood biomarkers that can enable early detection of CRC. We used a quantitative proteomic approach with isobaric labeling (iTRAQ) to examine changes in the plasma proteome of 10 patients with CRC compared to healthy volunteers. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbnent Assay (ELISA) and Western blot were used for further validation. In our quantitative proteomics analysis, we detected 75 human plasma proteins with more than 95% confidence using iTRAQ labeling in conjunction with microQ-TOF MS. 9 up-regulated and 4 down-regulated proteins were observed in the CRC group. The ORM2 level in plasma was confirmed to be significantly elevated in patients suffering from CRC compared with the controls. ORM2 expression in CRC tissues was significantly increased compared with that in corresponding adjacent normal mucous tissues (P<0.001). ITRAQ together with Q-TOF/MS is a sensitive and reproducible technique of quantitative proteomics. Alteration in expression of ORM2 suggests that ORM2 could be used as a potential biomarker in the diagnosis of CRC.