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To isolate, identify and characterize a fungus with flocculating activity.We used gradient dilution, plaque distribution and 18S rDNA analysis to isolate and identify a fungus with flocculating activity. We used high-speed centrifugation, ultrasonication and qualitative test to determine the nature of flocculating active substances.We isolated a flocculating active fungi and identified it as Penicillium purpurogenum. Ultrasonication test confirmed that the flocculating activity was primarily in the fermentation supernatant. We explored the flocculating activity curve and found that 4 days was the optimum fermentation time for accumulating flocculating active substances. The strain flocculating activity remains unchanged when pH varied from 2 to 11 and temperature varied from -70 degrees C to 100 degrees C. We finally identified the flocculating active substances as saccharides.We isolated a flocculating active strain P. purpurogenum EL-02, and identified its flocculating active products as saccharides.

Previously, we localized the defective gene for the urofacial syndrome (UFS) to a region on chromosome 10q24 by homozygosity mapping. We now report evidence that Heparanse 2 (HPSE2) is the culprit gene for the syndrome. Mutations with a loss of function in the Heparanase 2 (HPSE2) gene were identified in all UFS patients originating from Colombia, the United States, and France. HPSE2 encodes a 592 aa protein that contains a domain showing sequence homology to the glycosyl hydrolase motif in the heparanase (HPSE) gene, but its exact biological function has not yet been characterized. Complete loss of HPSE2 function in UFS patients suggests that HPSE2 may be important for the synergic action of muscles implicated in facial expression and urine voiding.

We have shown earlier that overexpression of Calreticulin (CRT) contributed to a poor prognosis for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Here, we have shown an important role of CRT in tumorigenesis through enhancing cell motility and anoikis resistance. SiRNA-mediated knockdown of CRT caused impaired cell migration, invasion and resistance to anoikis. Notably, CRT downregulation decreased the expression of Cortactin (CTTN), which has been previously reported as a candidate oncogene associated with anoikis through the PI3K–Akt pathway. In addition, Akt phosphorylation was abolished after CRT downregulation and its activation can be refreshed by CRT upregulation, suggesting that CRT-enhanced cell resistance to anoikis through the CRT–CTTN–PI3K–Akt pathway. Moreover, the CTTN mRNA level was decreased in CRT–siRNA cells, coupled with the inactivation of STAT3. Expression of both CTTN and p-STAT3 was reduced in tumor cells following incubation with the JAK-specific inhibitor, AG490. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay showed direct binding of p-STAT3 to the conservative STAT3-binding sequences in CTTN promoter. Furthermore, overexpression of CTTN in CRT-downregulated ESCC cells restored its motility and resistance to anoikis. This study not only reveals a role of CRT in motility promotion and anoikis resistance in ESCC cells, but also identifies CRT as an upstream regulator in the CRT–STAT3–CTTN–Akt pathway.

Development of quantitative trait loci (QTL) near isogenic lines is a crucial step to QTL isolation using the strategy of map-based cloning. In this study, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from two indica rice varieties, Zhenshan 97 and HR5, was employed to map QTL for spikelets per panicle (SPP). One major QTL (qSPP7) and three minor QTL (qSPP1, qSPP2 and qSPP3) were identified on chromosomes 7, 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Four sets of near isogenic lines (NILs) BC(4)F(2) targeted for the four QTL were developed by following a standard procedure of consecutive backcross, respectively. These QTL were not only validated in corresponding NILs, but also explained amounts of phenotypic variation with much larger LOD scores compared with those identified in RILs. SPP in the four QTL-NILs expressed bimodal or discontinuous distributions and followed the expected segregation ratio of single Mendelian factor by progeny test. Finally, qSPP1, qSPP2, qSPP3 and qSPP7 were respectively mapped to a locus, 0.5 cM from MRG2746, 0.6 cM from MRG2762, 0.8 cM from RM49 and 0.7 cM from MRG4436, as co-dominant markers on the basis of progeny tests. These results indicate no matter how small effect minor QTL is, QTL may still express the characteristics of single Mendelian factor in NILs and isolation of minor QTL will be possible using high quality NILs. Pyramiding these QTL into a variety will largely enhance rice grain yield.

The growth-correlated genes that are part of the neuroendocrine growth axis play crucial roles in the regulation of growth and development of pig. The identification of genetic polymorphisms in these genes will enable the scientist to evaluate the biological relevance of such polymorphisms and to gain a better understanding of quantitative traits like growth. In the present study, seven pairs of primers were designed to obtain unknown sequences of growth-correlated genes, and other 25 pairs of primers were designed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) using the denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) technology in four pig breeds (Duroc, Landrace, Lantang and Wuzhishan), significantly differing in growth and development characteristics. A total of 101 polymorphisms were discovered in 10,707 base pairs (bp) from six genes of the ghrelin (GHRL), leptin (LEP), insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP-2), insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), and somatostatin (SS). The observed average distances between the SNP in the 5'UTR, coding regions, introns and 3'UTR were 134, 521, 81 and 92 bp, respectively. Four SNPs were found in the coding regions of IGF-II, IGFBP-2 and LEP, respectively. Two synonymous mutations were obtained in IGF-II and LEP genes respectively, and two non-synonymous were found in IGFBP-2 and LEP genes, respectively. Seven other mutations were also observed. Thirty-two PCR-RFLP markers were found among 101 polymorphisms of the six genes. The SNP discovered in this study would provide suitable markers for association studies of candidate genes with growth related traits in pig.

Monoclonal antibodies to tumor endothelial cells (TECs) hold great promise for cancer angiogenesis-targeted therapy. The aim of the present study was to develop such an agent for esophageal cancer treatment.BALB/c mice were immunized with human esophageal tumor endothelial cells (ETECs) cultured with tumor homogenate. MAbs were produced, screened by immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry (IHC) and an IgG1K mAb 4B3 was selected. The mAb 4B3 antigen was analyzed by IHC and Western blotting. The antibody's effects on ETECs were determined by adhesion and tube formation assays, while its therapeutic potential was evaluated with a tumor model established by co-inoculating mice with the human esophageal cancer cell lines KYSE180 and ETECs.MAb 4B3 recognized a 40-kDa surface antigen preferentially expressed on TECs and other stromal cells in human malignant tissues of esophagus, stomach, colon, liver, lung and breast compared with their normal counterparts. The antigen was not detected on cancer cells or normal epithelia in these tissues, nor was it detectable on any cells in the mouse xenografts of KYSE180, including the host endothelia. MAb 4B3 inhibited ETEC adhesion to extracellular matrix proteins and tube formation in vitro. The antibody inhibited angiogenesis and growth of the tumor formed by coinoculation.These results suggest that mAb 4B3 has therapeutic potential for esophageal cancer.

Current in vivo investigations of tumor angiogenesis mainly rely on the results obtained from engrafted models in mice. In the present study, we attempt to assess the potential of human tumor endothelium to form neovasculature in different engrafted tumor models. The tumor endothelial cells were isolated from human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and then identified by anti-VEGFR1/2 immunoreactions and tube formation assay. Esophageal and lung cancer cells were subcutaneously inoculated into nude mice with human esophageal cancer endothelial cells (HECECs), respectively. The human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were also co-inoculated into mice with esophageal cancer cells as a control. The engrafted tumor growth was significantly promoted by co-inoculation of HECECs in comparison with injection of esophageal tumor cells alone. Immunohistochemistry of anti-CD31 and anti-huCD31 was performed to detect the micro-vessels in the engrafted tumors which revealed that the HECECs formed humanized micro-vessels and significantly increased the micro-vessel density in engrafted tumors comparing with the tumors without HECECs. However, HUVEC cells could not enhance the esophageal tumor growth and the growth of lung tumors could not be increased by HECECs, either. Few humanized blood vessels were found in these two groups of xenografts. These results suggest that the specific interaction between HECECs and esophageal tumor cells contributes to the neovasculature construction and esophageal tumor growth in xenografts.

Near-isogenic lines (NILs) are ideal materials for precise estimation of quantitative trait loci (QTL) effects and map-based gene isolation. With the completion of the rice genome sequence, QTL isolation based on NILs is becoming a routine. In this study, a trait-performance derived NIL strategy was adopted to develop NILs. Two plants were identified within one inbred line of recombinant inbred lines (RILs, F(7) generation), exhibiting a significant difference in panicle size. By marker screening of the whole genome the genetic background of the two plants was estimated to be 98.7% identical. These two plants were selected as parents to produce a near-isogenic F(2) (NIL-F(2)) population, consisting of 125 individuals, in which spikelets per panicle (SPP), grains per panicle (GPP), heading date (HD) and plant height (PH) were recorded. These four traits expressed discontinuous or bimodal distribution in the NIL-F(2) population and followed the expected segregation ratios for a single Mendelian factor by progeny tests. A partial dominant QTL for the four traits was mapped to the same interval flanked by RM310 and RM126 on chromosome 8. The QTL region explained 83.0, 80.2, 94.9 and 93.8% of trait variation of SPP, GPP, HD and PH in the progenies, respectively. Progeny tests also confirmed co-segregation of QTL for the four traits, tall plants consistently flowering late and carrying large panicles. Different NILs development strategies are discussed.

Ant colony optimisation (ACO) which is one of the most popular algorithms in machine learning has been used widely to solve combinatorial optimisation problems. However, there are few studies for its runtime analysis which can reflect the computational complexity of ACO algorithm. The presented paper proposes a method for analysing the convergence time of ant system algorithm with pheromone rate. The analysis is a process of estimating the iteration time that pheromone rate attains the objective value and the mean convergence time based on the objective pheromone rate in expectation. The proposed method can be used to analyse the computational complexity of other ACO algorithms. Finally, a brief ant system algorithm is analysed as an example of using the method.

The Cyclooxygenase-2 product PGE2 is suggested to be involved in angiogenesis, but its exact role and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. In the present study, we show that PGE2 dose-dependently promotes the in vitro tube formation of human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC). PGE2 also increases vessel density in chicken chorioallantoic membrane, and vessel outgrowth of mouse aortic rings. All cognate PGE2 receptors, namely EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4 can be detected in the HMVECs at both the gene and protein levels. Using EP-specific ligand agonists and antagonists our data demonstrate the EP4-dependent tube formation. Concordantly, knockdown of EP4, but not EP1, EP2 or EP3 with siRNA attenuates the PGE2-induced tube formation. Treatment with PGE2 increases cAMP accumulation and PKA activation, and knockdown of EP4 attenuates the PKA activation, suggesting a principally EP4-to-PKA signal. Remarkably, the treatment with selective PKA inhibitors H89 or PKI attenuates the PGE2-mediated tube formation. There are three PKA catalytic subunits and the knockdown of catalytic subunit gamma (PKACg) prevents the PGE2-regulated tube formation. To begin to identify the PKA substrate(s) involved in tube formation, a panel of SMARTpool siRNAs targeting 16 PKA substrates was tested. Results show that heat shock protein B6, endothelial nitric oxide synthase and small GTPase Rap1A exert pro-tube formation effects, whereas small GTPase RhoA and GSK3b may be involved in anti-tube formation. Our data suggest that PGE2 promotes angiogenesis through a EP4-cAMP-PKACgamma pathway. Targeting EP4 and PKACgamma may serve as an efficient strategy to control initiation and progression of diseases affected by angiogenesis, such as cancer. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 3488. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-3488

AIM: To gain tumor endothelium associated antigen genes from human liver cancer vascular endothelial cells (HLCVECs) cDNA expression library, so as to find some new possible targets for the diagnosis and therapy of liver tumor. METHODS: HLCVECs were isolated and purified from a fresh hepatocellular carcinoma tissue sample, and were cultured and proliferated in vitro. A cDNA expression library was constructed with the mRNA extracted from HLCVECs. Anti-sera were prepared from immunized BALB/c mice through subcutaneous injection with high dose of fixed HLCVECs, and were then tested for their specificity against HLCVECs and angiogenic effects in vitro, such as inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis of tumor endothelial cells, using immunocytochemistry, immunofluorescence, cell cycle analysis and MTT assays, etc. The identified xenogeneic sera from immunized mice were employed to screen the library of HLCVECs by modified serological analyses of recombinant cDNA expression libraries (SEREX). The positive clones were sequenced and analyzed by bio-informatics. RESULTS: The primary cDNA library consisted of 2 × 106 recombinants. Thirty-six positive clones were obtained from 6 × 105 independent clones by immunoscreening. Bio-informatics analysis of cDNA sequences indicated that 36 positive clones represented 18 different genes. Among them, 3 were new genes previously unreported, 2 of which were hypothetical genes. The other 15 were already known ones. Series analysis of gene expression (SAGE) database showed that ERP70, GRP58, GAPDH, SSB, S100A6, BMP-6, DVS27, HSP70 and NAC alpha in these genes were associated with endothelium and angiogenesis, but their effects on HLCVECs were still unclear. GAPDH, S100A6, BMP-6 and hsp70 were identified by SEREX in other tumor cDNA expression libraries. CONCLUSION: By screening of HLCVECs cDNA expression library using sera from immunized mice with HLCVECs, the functional genes associated with tumor endothelium or angiogenesis were identified. The modified SEREX, xenogeneic functional serum screening, was demonstrated to be effective for isolation and identification of antigen genes of tumor endothelium, and also for other tumor cell antigen genes. These antigen genes obtained in this study could be a valuable resource for basic and clinical studies of tumor angiogenesis, thus facilitating the development of anti- angiogenesis targeting therapy of tumors.

The determination of reactor fuel burnup used to be performed by post irradiation analysis. It obviously results in the delay of fuel burnup information and then the economical significance of the burnup data is restricted. A new burnup monitoring method which can be used as an on-line fuel burnup surveillance technique during reactor operation is presented in this paper. The experimental process and results obtained on HFETR of China (high flux engineering test reactor) are given.

This study investigates near-shore circulation and wave characteristics applied to a case-study site in Monterey Bay, California. We integrate physics-based models to resolve wave conditions together with amachine-learningalgorithm that combines forecasts from multiple, independent models into a single “best-estimate” prediction of the true state. The Simulating WAves Nearshore (SWAN) physics-based model is used to compute wind-augmented waves. Ensembles are developed based on multiple simulations perturbing data input to the model. A learning-aggregation technique uses historical observations and model forecasts to calculate a weight for each ensemble member. We compare the weighted ensemble predictions with measured data to evaluate performance against present state-of-the-art. Finally, we discuss how this framework that integrates data-driven and physics-based approaches can outperform either technique in isolation.

Introduction Acute liver failure (ALF) is a highly lethal disease, for which effective therapeutic methods are limited. Although allogeneic liver transplantation is a viable treatment method for ALF, there is a serious shortage of liver donors. Recent studies suggest that stem cell transplantation is a more promising alternative. Hence, we investigate whether human adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) have the therapeutic potential for ALF in this study based on the studies of rat models. Methods Sprague Dawley rats were used to establish ALF models by D-galactosamine injection. These rats were randomly divided into a human ASC-treated group and a phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) control group. The human ASCs or PBS was transplanted through the spleen of rats. The indices of hepatic function and hepatic histology were dynamically detected, and the survival rates of rats were also counted. Double-fluorescence immunohistochemistry was employed to detect the ASC fate after transplantation. Moreover, both concentrated ASC conditional media and ASC lysates were transplanted through the femoral vain of rats to investigate the therapeutic potential for ALF. Results The ASC transplantation group showed improved viability in comparison with the sham control. Histological and biochemical analysis suggested that liver morphology and function were improved in terms of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Although a plethora of ASCs persist in the spleen, the improvement in liver function was obvious. However, ASCs did not differentiate into hepatocytes after engrafting to livers within 3 days. In addition, both concentrated serum-free ASC conditional media and ASC lysates, characterized by high levels of hepatocyte growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor, demonstrated obvious improvement in terms of high survival rates of ALF rats. Conclusion Our data suggest that ASC transplantation has the potential for ALF treatment partly by the mechanism of secreting growth factors contributing to liver regeneration.