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The xylA gene, encoding xylose isomerase, was cloned as a 1342-bp BamHI/SacI fragment from the E. coli. As a selection marker, the xylA gene was fused between the enhanced CaMV 35S promoter (E35S) and terminator (35St) in pBAC413 (Fig.2). pBAC413 was constructed to prevent the expression of sbeIIb in maize. PDS1000/He was used to bombard maize calli, which were induced to form by the elite inbred lines. The selection was carried out on the media containing concentrations of xylose from 0 to 100%. The results showed that the media containing 50% to 100% D-xylose were better, but differed with the genotype of maize (Tables 1 and 2). Successful integration of xylA gene into the maize genome was confirmed by DNA dot blotting, PCR and PCR-Southern hybridization (Figs.4 to 6). A method was established in which transformed maize cells were successively screened on a medium containing xylose instead of antibiotic and herbicide for bio-safety.

Objective: This study aimed to clarify the morphology of the Martin-Gruber anastomosis (MGA) in Chinese., Methods: One hundred and five Chinese upper limbs (36 males and 20 femalese) were dissected to find the connections between medial nerve and ulnar nerve. The MGA was classified as previously described by Lee., Results: MGA was found in 24 cases (22.9%), in 11 of the 36 male and 5 of the 20 female. There was no obvious difference in the frequency of MGA in both upper limbs. Most MGA ulnar position was located at the medial and distal segment of the forearm., Conclusion: MGA anatomy could play important role in forensic diagnosis of ulnar nerve injury in Chinese population.

The relationships between the rates of starch synthesis and the activities of enzymes responsible for starch biosynthesis in developing grains of normal, pop, sweet and waxy corns were investigated and compared throughout the grain filling period. The results indicated that the rates of starch synthesis and the activities of sucrose synthase (SS), soluble starch synthase (SSS), granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS), starch-branching enzyme (SBE) and starch-debranching enzyme (DBE) each exhibited a single peak during grain filling period. Normal corn showed significantly higher SS activity than other genotypes between 30 and 40 DAP. The mean and maximum activities of SSS were in the following order: normal corn>waxy corn>pop corn>sweet corn. GBSS activities were significantly higher in normal corn, and significantly lower in waxy corn at late filling period. SBE activity of waxy corn was significantly higher than other lines after 10 DAP. DBE activity of sweet corn was extremely low and completely lost at 40 DAP. The rates of starch synthesis had some correlation with the activities of SS, SSS, GBSS and SBE during the grain filling process. No correlation was found between the rates of starch synthesis and the activities of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) and DBE. SS activity appears to play a major role in starch biosynthesis in maize. GBSS is responsible for amylose synthesis especially in the later period. SSS and SBE are associated with amylopectin biosynthesis.

Glycyrrhizic acid content in Fen Gancao (barked licorice root) and its rough bark (Cortex Glycyrrhizae) was determined by HPLC. The result showed that at least three unknown ingredients were detected in Cortex Glycyrrhizae which were not in Fen Gancao, and glycyrrhizic acid content in the Cortex Glycyrrhizae is higher than that in Fen Gancao. It suggests that Cortex Glycyrrhizae can be used as the material not only to extract glycyrrhizic acid but also for making additives. Furtheronore, Fen Gancao should be further studied in order to reveal the differences of pharmacological effects between Fen Gancao and Licorice Root (Radix Glycyrrhizae).

Expression vector pBAC128F, which carries DREB transcriptional factor gene driven by drought inducing promoter rd29B and bar gene driven by CaMV 35S promoter and maize Adh1 gene first intron, was transferred into the explants of immature inflorescence and immature embryos of hexaploid winter wheat cv. 8901, 5-98, 99-92 and 104 by particle bombardment. More than 70 resistant transgenic plants were obtained. Genomic PCR and RNA dot blotting analyses showed that DREB gene had been integrated into wheat genome of the transgenic plants (T0 and T1) and was well expressed in offspring seed of different transgenic lines. The content of proline in leaves and seeds of T2 transgenic lines was analyzed. Among 16 tested transgenic lines, 10 transgenic lines exhibited more than two fold of proline level in leaves as compared with CK plants. Under drought condition, after stopping water for 15 days the leaves of transgenic lines were still green, while CK were faded. After rewatering for 10 days, the leaves of transgenic lines maintained their green, while all CK plants were dead. Our research suggested that introducing a novel DREB transcriptional factor into wheat is an effective way to improve its drought-tolerance ability.

Objective: To study the relationship between postmortem interval and the myofibril fragmentation index of skeletal muscle., Methods: Rabbit skeletal muscle were left in the room temperature for different postmortem intervals, and the protein concentration of each sample was detected by using biuret method. Furthermore, the myofibril fragmentation index of each sample was measured under the protein concentration level of 0.5 mg/mL., Results: The myofibril fragmentation index increased obviously according to the postmortem interval prolongation., Conclusion: The myofibril fragmentation index may be used on the estimation of early postmortem interval.

PCR is a powerful tool for the amplification of genetic sequences. It has been widely applied in molecular biology. It is generally used to amplify short segments (several hundreds basepairs to several kilobasepairs). It is difficult to amplify a long DNA segment. Based on the sequenced genes, it is known that most intact genes are very long. And intact gene is very important for the gene to express specially and effectively. Long PCR is a very useful tool to amplify intact genes for constructing special expression vectors. We have tried several chemicals to optimize long PCR system and found betaine was the best. Betaine, as an amino acid analogue with small tetraalkylammonium ions, could remarkably improve the amplification of long targets from the plant genome. The suitable concentration of betaine was between 1.0 mol/L and 2.5mol/L. We could effectively amplify a 9 kb DNA segment from maize genome DNA and a 16 kb DNA segment from plasmid. It was shown that different primers and different targets (different GC content) needed different concentrations of betaine. Betaine can reduce or eliminate non-special amplification. In the meantime we tried other additive chemicals, such as DMSO, glycerin, formamide. They were no notable results in long PCR.

Objective: To observe the changes of endothelium-dependent dilation (EDD) of patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) before and after Kanli Decoction treatment., Methods: Thirty-five CHF patients were treated with Kanli Decoction. We used color Doppler ultrasound to monitor the flow-mediated dilation (FMD), pulsatile index (PI), resistance index (RI), baseline blood flow (BF), ejection fraction (EF) before and after the treatment., Results: FMD after treatment (9.26+/-3.19) were obviously higher than that before the treatment (7.06+/-2.58) (P<0.05), but BF, PI and RI were not improved., Conclusion: Applying color Doppler ultrasound into observation on EDD of patients suffering from CHF and treated by the Kanli Decoction shows that the CHF could be treated by traditional Chinese medicine.

Fourteen wheat cultivars were identified into six types of Wx proteins combinations using 6% SDS-PAGE. PCR primers were designed according to the three Wx genes sequences and their mutants, respectively. A 327 bp-band was amplified from the Wx-A1 mutant,while the band was absent for the normal alleles at the Wx-A1 locus,as well as the presence or absence of a 187 bp PCR fragment at the Wx-B1 locus and a 700 bp PCR fragment at the Wx-D1 locus, respectively, corresponding to the normal and mutant alleles. Compared with the former studies, shorter and more different PCR products at three loci, amplified by the primers designed for Wx-B1 gene can be separated in 2% agarose gel, which enables screening breeding lines for noodle use faster and effectively.

Unlabelled: To study the clinical significance of the expression of antiapoptosis gene, survivin and bcl-2, and proapoptosis gene, Fas and bax, in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), RT-PCR was used to examine the expression of survivin and flow cytometry (FCM) to detect the expression of Fas, bcl-2, bax and bcl-2/bax ratio in 68 cases of AML. The results demonstrated that: (1) The positivity of survivin mRNA expression was significantly higher in AML compared to control (70.6% vs 30%, P < 0.05). (2) The expression of Fas and bcl-2 in AML before treatment was significantly higher than that in control (P < 0.001), but the bax expression did not (P > 0.05). (3) The survivin-positive AML cases showed a significantly lower Fas and higher bcl-2 expression in comparison with survivin-negative ones (P < 0.01 and P < 0.001, respectively), but the bax did not (P > 0.01). (4) Survivin-positive AML cases had a lower CR rate as compared with survivin-negative cases (64.6% vs 90%, P < 0.05). (5) The survivin-positive CR cases showed a decreased expression of Fas and bcl-2 after treatment in comparison with pretreatment expression (P < 0.001), but the bax expression remained unchanged before and after therapy. The survivin-positive NR cases showed a significantly decreased Fas and increased bcl-2 expression as compared with pretreatment expression (P < 0.001). bcl-2/bax ratio was also significantly higher in NR cases., In Conclusion: 70.6% AML cases showed positive for survivin expression with a lower CR rate, the survivin-positive AML showed a low Fas with high bcl-2 expression and bcl-2/bax ratio as compared to the survivin-negative cases.

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) molecular marker was used to measure the genetic diversity of D-genome in 26 synthesized hexaploid wheat (AABBDD) introduced from CIMMYT. Twenty-three D-genome specific SSR primers were selected for PCR amplification, among which 22 primers can detect polymorphism. A total of 92 alleles were identified at 23 loci using the above SSR primers, with an average of 4 alleles per locus. The 92 alleles were used to calculate Nei's similarity index (GS) and the genetic distance (GD). It was also found that the mean genetic distance between 26 synthesized hexaploid wheat was 0.4955, which was obviously high. From the above results, it can be indicated that the genetic variation of D-genome in synthesized hexaploid wheat was abundant and could be used to improve the genetic diversity in wheat breeding. Interestingly, synthesized hexaploid wheat 17 and 18 shared the same D-genome donor, but three of 23 detected SSR loci were polymorphic between the two materials. Therefore, during the period of allopolyploidization, there was genetic differentiation in repeat region of donor genome.