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At present, ulcerative colitis (UC) has become a global disease due to its high incidence. Hyperoside (HYP) is a naturally occurring flavonoid compound with many pharmacological effects. This study aimed to develop HYP-loaded mixed micelles (HYP-M) to improve oral bioavailability of HYP and to evaluate its therapeutic effect on UC. The prepared HYP-M exhibited stable physical and chemical properties, smaller particle size (PS) (21.48 ± 1.37 nm), good polydispersity index (PDI = 0.178 ± 0.013), negative Zeta potential (ZP) (− 20.00 ± 0.48 mV) and high entrapment rate (EE) (89.59 ± 2.03%). In vitro release and in vivo pharmacokinetic results showed that HYP-M significantly increased the releasing rate of HYP, wherein its oral bioavailability was 4.15 times higher than that of free HYP. In addition, HYP-M was more effective in the treatment of UC than free HYP. In conclusion, HYP-M could serve as a novel approach to improve bioavailability and increase anti-UC activity of HYP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pinocembrin (PCB) is 5,7-dihydroxyl flavanone and has multiple pharmacological activities, namely, anti-inflammation, anti-osteoporotic, and so on. However, low water solubility and bioavailability have hindered its application. Herein, we aimed to increase its bioavailability through preparation of F127/MPEG-PDLLA polymer micelles (PCB-M). We characterized the micelles through appropriate attributes such as analysis of particle size (PS), polydispersity (PDI), transmission electron microscopic (TEM) image, stability test, and evaluation of in vitro release of drug. After physical characterization, the respective PS, PDI, and entrapment efficiency (EE) of PCB-M were estimated to be 27.63 ± 0.17 nm, 0.055 ± 0.02, and 90.53 ± 0.01%. Fluorescence probe method was employed to measure critical micelle concentration (CMC) of PCB-M, we observed CMC was low, thereby suggesting that PCB-M had good stability. In vitro release analysis indicated that the rate of cumulative PCB release from PCB-M was greater than 90% in each medium compared with free PCB, which was less than 40%, thus pointing to a significantly improved solubility of PCB. In vivo pharmacokinetic results showed that oral biological availability of PCB-M increased 5.3 folds comparable to free PCB. The effects of PCB on osteoblasts and ALP activities were investigated; subsequently, zebrafish osteoporotic model was established with prednisolone to study the anti-osteoporotic effects of PCB and PCB-M. The results showed that PCB improved osteoporosis with PCB-M being more effective than free PCB. Finally, PCB-M can be used as a promising method to improve the solubility of PCB, while the bioavailability and anti-osteoporotic effect of PCB could be improved, thus laying a foundation for clinical use in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

African swine fever (ASF), caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV), was first reported in Kenya in 1921, but an effective vaccine or antiviral drug is still not available for ASFV control. Rapid and effective diagnostics are key steps in managing ASF. We generated two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against the ASFV phosphoprotein P30 and designated these as 3H7A7 and 6H9A10. Epitope mapping revealed that MAb 3H7A7 and 6H9A10 recognized aa 144-154 and aa 12-18 of P30, respectively. A signal-amplified sandwich colloidal gold test strip for rapid detection of ASFV was developed based using these MAbs. Sensitivity and specificity analysis showed that the detection limit of the strip was 2.16 ng of P30. The strip only reacted with ASFV and did not react with other common porcine viruses. In detection tests using 153 clinical field samples including sera, plasma, anticoagulant-treated blood, and tissue, the strip had 95.42% concordance with real-time PCR. The new MAbs specific for P30 and the rapid colloidal gold test strip helped to reveal novel B cell epitopes in P30 and provide an efficient diagnostic test for on-site clinical detection of ASF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is the most basic parameter that describes the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols, and it can be used to indicate aerosol content. In this study, we assimilated AOD data from the Fengyun-3A (FY-3A) and MODIS meteorological satellite using the Gridpoint Statistical Interpolation three-dimensional variational data assimilation system. Experiments were conducted for a dust storm over East Asia in April 2011. Each 0600 UTC analysis initialized a 24-hWeather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry model forecast. The results generally showed that the assimilation of satellite AOD observational data can significantly improve model aerosol mass prediction skills. The AOD distribution of the analysis field was closer to the observations of the satellite after assimilation of satellite AOD data. In addition, the analysis resulting from the experiment assimilating both FY-3A/MERSI (Medium-resolution Spectral Imager) AOD data and MODIS AOD data had closer agreement with the ground-based values than the individual assimilation of the two datasets for the dust storm over East Asia. These results suggest that the Chinese FY-3A satellite aerosol products can be effectively applied to numerical models and dust weather analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental surveillance of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) represents a key issue in control of the disease. CD151 has recently been recognized as one of several receptors for PRRSV. We describe here a novel method for concentration of PRRSV from the environmental samples by CD151-binding capture. After fusion to self-aggregating peptide ELK16, the large extracellular loop (LEL) of porcine CD151 and its two segments (namely N63 and C63) were expressed in E. coli as protein aggregates. The three fusion proteins were purified to high purities by regular centrifugation and washing with Triton X-100. Viral binding assay showed that the C63-ELK16 protein, but not ELK16-N63 protein, had the specific binding affinity for PRRSV. The C63-ELK16 protein could bind to, and eluted from, PRRSV in pH-, temperature-, and time-dependent manners with a final virus recovery of 44.7%. By using PRRSV-spiked and experimentally infected pig fecal slurry samples, the C63-ELK16 binding capture-combined quantitative RT-PCR was shown to have higher detection sensitivity than the conventional RT-PCR. Although the viral RNA could be detected in the experimentally infected pig samples with or without C63-ELK16 binding capture, infectious PRRSV was not isolated without C63-ELK16 binding capture. Therefore, the CD151-binding capture method established offers sufficient recovery and quickness and will facilitate environmental PRRSV surveillance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pigs are the most economically important livestock, but pig cell lines useful for physiological studies and/or vaccine development are limited. Although several pig cell lines have been generated by oncogene transformation or human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) immortalization, these cell lines contain viral sequences and/or antibiotic resistance genes. In this study, we established a new method for generating pig cell lines using the Sleeping Beauty (SB) transposon-mediated ectopic expression of porcine telomerase reverse transcriptase (pTERT). The performance of the new method was confirmed by generating a pig fibroblast cell (PFC) line. After transfection of primary PFCs with the SB transposon system, one cell clone containing the pTERT expression cassette was selected by dilution cloning and passed for different generations. After passage for more than 40 generations, the cell line retained stable expression of ectopic pTERT and continuous growth potential. Further characterization showed that the cell line kept the fibroblast morphology, growth curve, population doubling time, cloning efficiency, marker gene expression pattern, cell cycle distribution and anchorage-dependent growth property of the primary cells. These data suggest that the new method established is useful for generating pig cell lines without viral sequence and antibiotic resistant gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A single-step method for quick concentration and purification of adenoviruses (Ads) was established by combining coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR)-binding capture with elastin-like polypeptide (ELP)-mediated precipitation. The soluble ELP-CAR fusion protein was expressed in vector-transformed E. coli and purified to high purity by two rounds of inverse transition cycling (ITC). After demonstration of the specific binding of fusion protein, a recombinant Ad (rAd), namely rAd/GFP, was pulled down from the culture medium and extract of rAd-transduced cells using ELP-CAR protein, with recovery of 76.2 % and 73.3 %, respectively. The rAd was eluted from the ELP-CAR protein and harvested by one round of ITC, with recoveries ranging from 30.6 % to 34.5 % (virus titration assay). Both ELP-CAR-bound and eluted rAds were able to transduce CAR-positive cells, but not CAR-negative cells (fluorescent microscopy). A further viral titration assay showed that the ELP-CAR-bound rAd/GFP had significantly lower transduction efficiency than the eluted rAd, and there was less of a decrease when tested in the presence of fetal bovine serum. In addition, rAd/GFP was efficiently recovered from the 'spiked' PBS and tap water with recovery of ~74 % or ~60 %. This work demonstrates the usefulness of the ELP-CAR-binding capture method for concentration and/or purification of Ads in cellular and environmental samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structures and energies of complexes obtained upon interaction between glutathione (GSH) and alkali (Li, Na, K), or alkaline earth metal (Be, Mg, Ca), or group IIIA (Al) cations were studied using quantum chemical density functional theory. The characteristics of the interactions between GSH and the metal cations at different nucleophilic sites of GSH were examined selecting systematically, both mono- and multi-coordinating were taken into account. The results indicated that the heteroatom of GSH, the radius and charge of metal ion, and the coordination number of the metal cation with the ligand played important roles in determining the stability of these complexes. Moreover, the intramolecular hydrogen migration in GSH could be promoted by the metal cations during coordination reaction. Furthermore, the Al cation might catalyze the decarboxylation reaction and stimulate the formation of covalent bond between S atom and adjacent O atom of GSH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A robust artificial microRNA (amiRNA) strategy against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) was developed by targeting the untranslated regions (UTRs). Six candidate amiRNAs targeting the 5′ or 3′ UTR were used for vector construction, and four effective amiRNAs were selected for further study using a vector transfection/virus infection assay. In cell cultures stably transfected with the four amiRNA vectors, expression of the sequence-specific amiRNAs was confirmed using poly(A)-tailed RT-PCR. After infection with three different PRRSV strains, the viral RNA genome and/or transcript were inhibited by ~90 % (semi-quantitative RT-PCR), and the viral titers were decreased by more than six log CCID (viral titration assay) before day 3 postinfection. The potent anti-PRRSV effects lasted for at least 5 days. Sequence analysis showed that the amiRNA antiviral activities were not compromised by the presence of one or two mismatches in their binding targets. This work constitutes a step towards developing a more effective RNAi strategy against PRRSV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]