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Lipids are vital cellular constituents in plant, and lipid peroxidation metabolites are critical defence substances in plants. In this study, mass spectrometry along with projections to latent structures discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to detect lipid metabolism changes in Arabidopsis thaliana in response to oligochitosan (an effective resistance elicitor for the control of plant diseases). The PLS-DA showed that lipid metabolites of Arabidopsis thaliana were influenced by oligochitosan treatment. The total content of oxylipin containing monogalactosyldiacylglycerols, oxylipin-containing digalactosyldiacylglycerols, and oxylipin-containing phosphatidylglycerols increased firstly (after 1 h), and then decreased with the increase of oligochitosan treatment duration. In contrast, the total content of monogalactosyldiacylglycerols, phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidyl-ethanolamine, and phosphatidylglycerols decreased firstly, and then increased with the increase of oligochitosan treatment duration. The amounts of free fatty acids (C16:2, C16:3, C18:2, and C18:3) were lower after treatment with oligochitosan for 1, 3, and 6 h than in the control, while the production of volatile organic compounds such as 2-hexenal (except for 3 h) and nonanal was higher than in the control. In conclusion, lipid metabolites of Arabidopsis thaliana were influenced by oligochitosan treatment, and the synthesized lipids and oxylipin-containing lipids were remodelled and free fatty acids was metabolized to volatile organic compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High purity In2O3 nanopowders were subjected to different thermal treatments to investigate the role of defects on the lattice thermal conductivity. The powders were first treated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 700∘C and annealed in air between 700 and 1300∘C. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the samples are single phase, and the diffraction peaks become sharper with increasing of annealing temperature, indicating improvement in crystallinity and increase in grain size. The In2O3 nanopowders were also treated by SPS sintering at different temperatures without subsequent annealing. On the contrary, the average grain size of In2O3 treated by SPS has no obvious change with the increase in sintering temperatures. Positron annihilation measurements reveal large amounts of monovacancies and vacancy clusters in the In2O3 nanocrystals. The monovacancies gradually recover and the vacancy clusters transform into smaller vacancies with increasing annealing or sintering temperatures. The lattice thermal conductivity increases with the increase in annealing or sintering temperature, which shows close correlation with the recovery of vacancy defects after heat treatment. This gives us strong evidence that vacancy defects play an important role on the suppression of lattice thermal conductivity in nanostructured thermoelectric materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the expression level of p53 upregulated modulator of apoptosis (PUMA), myeloid cell leukemia-I (MCL-1), and p53 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and para-carcinoma tissues, as well as their clinical significance. The expression levels of PUMA, MCL-1, and p53 in RCC and para-carcinoma tissues were measured using immunohistochemical and quantitative real-time PCR methods. Correlations between protein expression and pathological characteristics were analyzed. Renal clear cell carcinoma showed elevated MCL-1 and p53 protein expression (P > 0.05) and reduced PUMA expression as compared to that in para-carcinoma tissues. Spearman ranking correlation analysis showed that expression of PUMA, MCL-1, and p53 in was negatively correlated with RCC (r = -0.504, P = 0.001; r = -0.413, P = 0.008). We also observed significant correlation between MCL-1 expression and tumor differentiation (P < 0.05), where MCL-1 expression was significantly higher in well-differentiated adenocarcinoma as compared to that in medium or lowly differentiated adenocarcinoma. In addition, p53 expression was highly correlated with TNM staging (P < 0.05). Single factor analysis on COX's proportional hazard model indicated that postoperative survival rate and prognosis of renal clear cell carcinoma was highly correlated with TNM staging (P < 0.05). Quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated higher expression of PUMA, MCL-1, and p53 in cancer tissues as compared to that in para-carcinoma tissues (P < 0.05).The expression of PUMA, MCL-1, and p53 can reflect the biological behavior of renal cell carcinoma, and can be used to indicate tumor invasion, progression, and prognosis.

The variant of PPAR-g2 has been shown to promote the increase of carotid IMT in patients suffering from cerebral infarction and the Pro12Ala polymorphism in the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptorg2 (PPARg2) gene may be associated with cerebral infarction. However, due to the different genetic background, race, and regional variations of cerebral infarction patient, the results of investigations into this subject differ. The aim of this study was to investigate this polymorphism in relation to cerebral infarction among the Inner Mongolian Han Chinese population. A total of 574 Han Chinese individuals from Inner Mongolian were selected randomly, including 302 patients with cerebral infarction and 272 healthy controls. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism was used to determine genotypes of the PPARg2 Pro12Ala variant and results were confirmed by direct sequencing. Genotype frequencies were found to be 90.7 and 91.9% for P/P, 8.6 and 7.7% for P/A, and 0.7 and 0.4 for A/A in the cerebral infarction and control groups, respectively. No statistically significant differences in genotype distribution were observed between the two groups (P > 0.05). Moreover, PPARg2 Pro12Ala genotype was not significantly associated with altered fasting blood glucose, blood pressure, or serum lipid profiles. After adjustment for gender, body mass index, and smoking habit, logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between the Pro12Ala polymorphism and cerebral infarction (odds ratio = 0.888, 95% confidence interval = 0.106-7.460, P > 0.05), revealing that this variant was not the main pathogenic factor involved. Therefore, the Pro12Ala mutation of PPARg2 may not be associated with cerebral infarction in the Inner Mongolian Han Chinese population.

The association of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PPARγ with hypertension is controversial. The aim of the present study was to clarify the contributions of PPARγ genetic variants to hypertension through an association study. A total of 414 unrelated Mongolian herdsmen and 524 Han farmers were included in this study. Fourteen intronic SNPs were analyzed and genotyped using a polymerase chain reaction/ligase detection reaction assay. Prior to correction for multiple testing, the SNPs rs6802898 and rs12633551 were significantly associated with the prevalence of hypertension in the Han and Mongolian populations, respectively. The genetic association of each SNP with hypertension was individually tested using logistic regression. The SNP rs6802898 was associated with hypertension in both dominant (P = 0.033) and additive models (P = 0.026) in the Han population, whereas the SNP rs12633551 was associated with hypertension in both dominant (P = 0.014) and additive models (P = 0.0073) in the Mongolian population. Moreover, SNP rs12633551 had a significant effect on systolic and diastolic blood pressure response. However, none of these associations were statistically significant after Bonferroni correction for multiple testing, although there was a significant difference among the haplotypes in the Han and Mongolian populations. Interestingly, there was an association of the PPARγ haplotypes with hypertension even after Bonferroni correction. Thus, determination of the PPARγ haplotypes in different populations may prove informative for assessment of the genetic risk for hypertension.

Mounting evidence has implicated the SLC12A3 gene in essential hypertension. Here, we examined the potential associations of common variants of the SLC12A3 gene with blood pressure traits in Mongolians in China. Genomic DNA was extracted from 508 unrelated Mongolian patients with essential hypertension and 246 normotensive Mongolian subjects for genotyping. The genotype distributions of all selected polymorphisms were consistent with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The presence of the G allele in the rs7187932 polymorphism was found to be associated with an increased risk of hypertension (OR: 1.30; 95%CI = 1.00-1.38; P = 0.048), whereas the rs2399594 G allele was associated with a reduced risk for hypertension (OR: 0.76; 95%CI = 0.60-0.97; P = 0.030). No significant difference was observed for other alleles. Haplotype analysis revealed an association of the rs2399594 and rs711746 GG haplotype with a reduced risk for hypertension (OR: 0.76; 95%CI = 0.60-0.97; P = 0.029). No significant association was observed between other haplotypes and hypertension. These results suggest that the SLC12A3 gene is a susceptibility gene for hypertension in the Mongolian population.

Human cytochrome P450 4A11 (CYP4A11) plays a role in the regulation of blood pressure through the conversion of arachidonic acid into 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE). We therefore investigated the association between a CYP4A11 polymorphism (rs9333025) with hypertension in the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups. We studied 514 Mongolians in a pastoral area, including 201 hypertension patients and 313 normotensive controls, and 524 Han individuals in an urban area, including 215 hypertension patients and 309 normotensive controls. Genotyping was performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). Genotype, allele, and dominant inheritance differed significantly between the Mongolian and Han populations (P = 0.006, P = 0.002, and P = 0.003, respectively). Significant differences were also observed in these factors when considering only males (P = 0.001, P = 0.003, and P = 0.001, respectively). For the Han population, recessive inheritance differed significantly between hypertension patients and controls and between male patients and controls (P = 0.005 and P = 0.049, respectively). The genotypic, allelic, and dominant frequencies differed significantly between hypertension patients in both populations (P = 0.019, P = 0.035, and P = 0.024, respectively). The genotypic frequency in Mongolian male patients was significantly different from that in Han male patients (P = 0.009). Higher body mass index, triglycerides, and lower high-density lipoprotein were associated with increased risk of developing hypertension in the Han population. The GG genotype was in higher frequency in the Mongolian population, indicating that it is a high risk factor for hypertension. Mongolian men were at higher risk of developing hypertension.

Methylation of the septin 9 gene (SEPT9) occurs in higher frequency in colorectal cancer (CRC) compared to control samples, which suggests that SEPT9 methylation is a useful biomarker for screening CRC. However, the methylation status of SEPT9 in Chinese CRC patients is scarcely reported. In the present study, SEPT9 methylation was tested in CRC tissues obtained from a Chinese population and correlations with pathological characteristics were investigated. The methylation status of SEPT9 was detected using methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (MSP-DHPLC) in 234 colorectal tissues (172 cases, 62 controls). Samples were sequenced to confirm the results from MSP-DHPLC. The chi-squared test was used to analyze the correlation of SEPT9 gene methylation status and pathological characteristics in CRCs. SEPT9 gene methylation was detected in 152 of 172 (88.4%) cases of verified CRC and in 4 of 62 (6.5%) healthy controls (χ(2) = 137.62, P < 0.001). There was no association between the methylation status of SEPT9 and age, gender, Duke's stage, TNM stage, differentiation, and site of cancer (P > 0.05). Our results suggest that SEPT9 gene methylation is a valuable biomarker for screening CRC in the Chinese population.

Activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g (PPARg) improves insulin sensitivity and inhibits atherosclerosis. Whether PPARg2 Pro12Ala polymorphism affects myocardial infarction is not clearly understood. We investigated a possible association of PPARg2 Pro12Ala polymorphism with obesity and myocardial infarction in Han Chinese in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. We included 121 subjects with myocardial infarction and 137 healthy controls in our study. Triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were measured. The following information was recorded for each subject: age, gender, body height, body weight, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure; the body mass index was calculated. PCR-RFLP was used to examine Pro12Ala polymorphism. There were significant differences in clinical characteristics between myocardial infarction patients and healthy controls, except for diastolic blood pressure and triglycerides. The PP, PA/AA genotype frequencies were 88.4 and 11.6% in myocardial infarction patients and 95.6 and 4.4% in controls, respectively (P = 0.031). Individuals with the A allele had a significantly higher risk of myocardial infarction. The A allele was not an independent risk factor for obesity. We conclude that PPARg2 Pro12Ala polymorphisms are associated with increased risk for myocardial infarction in Han Chinese in Hohhot.

We examined a possible association between HLA-A and -B polymorphisms and susceptibility to Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) in Han and Mongolian children in Inner Mongolia, through a case-control study. Two hundred and sixty-eight unrelated children were enrolled, including 56 Mongolian and 50 Han children with HSP, 66 healthy Mongolian and 96 healthy Han children as a control group. HLA-A and -B alleles were indentified by PCR-sequence-specific oligonucleotide analysis and were further analyzed by PCR-sequencing-based typing (SBT). Frequencies of HLA-A*11, HLA-B*15 in Mongolian patients and HLA-A*26, HLA-B*35, HLA-B*52 in Han patients were higher than those in the corresponding control group (P < 0.05), while frequencies of HLA-B*07 and -B*40 in Mongolian HSP patients were lower than those in the control group (P < 0.05). Further analysis using PCR-SBT showed that all HLA-A*11 were HLA-A*1101, and most HLA-B*15 were HLA-B*1501 in Mongolian HSP patients. All HLA-A*26 were HLA-A*2601 and HLA-B*35 were mostly HLA-B*3503 in Han patients. There were more Han patients with severe manifestations than Mongolian patients (P < 0.05). Frequencies of HLA-A*26, HLA-B*35 and HLA-B*52 in Han patients were higher than in Mongolian patients (P < 0.05). We conclude that HLA-A*11(*1101) and -B*15(*1501) are associated with susceptibility to HSP in Mongolian children and HLA-A*26(*2601), HLA-B*35(*3503) and HLA-B*52 are associated with susceptibility to HSP in Han children. HLA-B*07 and -B*40 may be protective genes in Mongolian children. The different frequencies of HLA-A and -B in Mongolian and Han children may be responsible for the different manifestations in these two ethnic groups.

We investigated a possible association of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1 alpha (PGC-1α) Gly482Ser polymorphism with hypertension in Mongolians in Inner Mongolia. A total of 787 subjects were enrolled randomly, including 390 hypertension patients and 397 healthy controls. Triglycerides, cholesterol, and fasting plasma glucose were measured, and body mass index was calculated. PCR-RFLP was used to analyze Gly482Ser polymorphisms. There were significant differences in triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, and body mass index between hypertension patients and healthy controls. Cholesterol levels did not differ significantly. The PGC-1α gene GG, GA and AA genotype distributions were 37.2, 48.5 and 14.4%, respectively, in patients and 48.6, 37.3 and 14.1% in healthy controls. The frequencies of PGC-1α genotype GA and allele A were significantly different between hypertension patients and healthy Mongolians. We concluded that PGC-1α Gly482Ser polymorphism is associated with hypertension in Mongolians in Inner Mongolia.

Abnormalities in renal sodium chloride and water reabsorption play important roles in the development of hypertension. Mutations in the genes involved in renal sodium chloride reabsorption can affect blood pressure. Recently, the R904Q variant of the sodium/chloride transporters, member 3 (SLC12A3) gene and the T481S variant of the chloride channel Kb (ClC-Kb) gene were found to be implicated in essential hypertension. We investigated a possible role of the SLC12A3 and ClC-Kb genes in the prevalence of essential hypertension in the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups. The study population comprised 308 unrelated Mongolians with essential hypertension, 271 Mongolian normotensives, 285 unrelated Han with essential hypertension, and 194 Han normotensives living in Inner Mongolia. The presence of the SLC12A3 R904Q and ClC-Kb-T481S polymorphisms was determined using TaqMan PCR. The risk factors for hypertension were age, body mass index, alcohol consumption, total plasma cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The genotype and allele frequencies of SLC12A3 R904Q and ClC-Kb-T481S were not significantly different between hypertensive patients and controls in the Mongolian (SLC12A3 R904Q, P = 0.471 and P = 0.494, ClC-Kb-T481S, P = 0.960 and P = 0.960, respectively) and Han (SLC12A3 R904Q, P = 0.765 and P = 0.777, ClC-Kb-T481S, P = 0.100 and P = 0.103, respectively) populations. There was no significant association between the SLC12A3 R904Q variant and the ClC-Kb-T481S variant and essential hypertension in either ethnic group.

We investigated a possible association between genetic variations in the thiazide-sensitive Na-Cl cotransporter (TSC) gene and essential hypertension (EH) in the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups in Inner Mongolia. Our study included 385 unrelated Mongolian herdsmen and 523 Han farmers. Nine tagSNPs of TSC were identified from the Chinese HapMap database based on pairwise r(2) ≥ 0.5 and minor allele frequency ≥0.05. Genotyping was performed using the PCR/ligase detection reaction assay. Association between tagSNPs and hypertension was investigated under the additive model. There were significant differences between the genotype and allele frequencies of rs13306673 between the EH group and the control group in the Han population. Significant associations were found between the rs7204044 variant and EH in both the Mongolian and Han ethnic groups. The frequency of haplotype GCA in the EH group was significantly higher than in the control group in the Mongolian population. In the Han population, the frequency of haplotype TGG was significantly higher in the EH group than in controls, whereas haplotype TGA occurred significantly less often in EH than in controls. We suggest that rs7204044 of TSC is a genetic factor for EH in these two ethnicities and that rs13306673 is a genetic factor for EH in the Han population.

Mongolians are known as heavy drinkers, and they have a high incidence of essential hypertension, which may be an associated pathology. We examined a possible association of essential hypertension and polymorphism of the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene in Mongolians from Inner Mongolia. Single nucleotide polymorphism rs671 of ALDH2 was detected by TaqMan PCR in 91 essential hypertensive patients (44 males and 47 females) and 70 healthy Mongolians (37 males and 33 females). Frequencies of the ALDH2*1/1 genotype and the ALDH2*1 allele in patients (91.2 and 95.6%, respectively) were significantly higher than in controls (78.6 and 89.3%; P < 0.05), while frequencies of ALDH2*1/2 genotype and ALDH2*2 allele in patients (8.79 and 4.4%) were much lower than in controls (21.4 and 10.7%; P < 0.05). Frequencies of ALDH2*1/1 genotype and ALDH2*1 allele in female patients (95.8 and 94.9%) were higher than in female controls (70.0 and 84.9%; P < 0.05); frequencies of the ALDH2*1/2 genotype and the ALDH2*2 allele in female patients (4.25 and 2.13%) were lower than in female controls (30.3 and 15.2%, P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in male subjects. ALDH2*2/2 was not found in any of the subjects. We conclude that ALDH2 polymorphism is associated with essential hypertension in Mongolians, especially in female Mongolians. ALDH2*2 was found to be a negative risk factor for essential hypertension in Mongolians from Inner Mongolia.

The ribosomal protein L9 (RPL9), a component of the large subunit of the ribosome, has an unusual structure, comprising two compact globular domains connected by an α-helix; it interacts with 23 S rRNA. To obtain information about rpL9 of Ailuropoda melanoleuca (the giant panda) we designed primers based on the known mammalian nucleotide sequence. RT-PCR and PCR strategies were employed to isolate cDNA and the rpL9 gene from A. melanoleuca; these were sequenced and analyzed. We overexpressed cDNA of the rpL9 gene in Escherichia coli BL21. The cloned cDNA fragment was 627 bp in length, containing an open reading frame of 579 bp. The deduced protein is composed of 192 amino acids, with an estimated molecular mass of 21.86 kDa and an isoelectric point of 10.36. The length of the genomic sequence is 3807 bp, including six exons and five introns. Based on alignment analysis, rpL9 has high similarity among species; we found 85% agreement of DNA and amino acid sequences with the other species that have been analyzed. Based on topology predictions, there are two N-glycosylation sites, five protein kinase C phosphorylation sites, one casein kinase II phosphorylation site, two tyrosine kinase phosphorylation sites, three N-myristoylation sites, one amidation site, and one ribosomal protein L6 signature 2 in the L9 protein of A. melanoleuca. The rpL9 gene can be readily expressed in E. coli; it fuses with the N-terminal GST-tagged protein, giving rise to the accumulation of an expected 26.51-kDa polypeptide, which is in good agreement with the predicted molecular weight. This expression product could be used for purification and further study of its function.

We examined the distribution of major allelic variants of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19 in the Mongolian population of China and compared it with that of other populations. The polymorphisms of CYP2C9 (including the CYP2C9*1, CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 alleles) and CYP2C19 (including the CYP2C19*1, CYP2C19*2 and CYP2C19*3 alleles) were analyzed in 280 healthy unrelated Chinese Mongolian subjects, using a PCR-RFLP assay. The frequencies of CYP2C9*1, *2 and *3 alleles were 0.97, 0.00 and 0.03, respectively. The frequencies of CYP2C19*1, *2 and *3 alleles were 0.72, 0.24 and 0.04, respectively. We did not find any differences in the allelic distribution of these two genes between age groups. However, the genotype frequency of CYP2C9 *1/*3 was significantly higher in males than in females. Compared with other populations, we found that the allele frequencies of the CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 allelic variants in this Mongolian population of China were similar to those reported for other Asian populations, with significant differences compared to Caucasians and African-Americans.