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The polymorphism of microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and tyrosinase (TYR) genes have been proposed to play a vital role in coat colour genesis in mammals, but their role remains ambiguous in geese at best. Here, we cloned and sequenced 1,397 bp coding region of MITF gene and a 588 bp fragment of TYR exon 1 for polymorphism analysis among 157 domestic geese showing three types of plumage colour. We detected a total of three SNPs (c.280T>C, c.345G>A, and c.369G>A) in TYR and six haplotypes (H1-H6). Among them, haplotypes H1, H2, H3, and H5 were significantly associated with white plumage trait of Zhedong White Geese. However, only diplotype H1H1 and H3H5 were significantly associated with white plumage trait of Zhedong White Geese (p<0.01). We only detected one SNP (c.1109C>T) for MITF gene and found that genotype CT and TT were significantly associated with white plumage trait of Zhedong White Geese. Briefly, our study suggested an association between polymorphisms of TYR and MITF genes and the plumage colour trait in domestic geese. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Menopausal women appear lipid metabolism disorder with the ovarian function decline and the estrogen levels decreased. Modern clinical usually use estrogen replacement therapy and with long time application with lots of side effect appear. Traditional Chinese medicine has more secure and effective methords,using warming Yang drugs and methods. And the previous study proves the Chinese medicine Astragali Complanati Semen water extraction has a good role in regulation of blood lipids. Because of the liver is the most important organ on regulating metabolism, therefore this study aimed to evaluate the effects of total flavonoids in Astragali Complanati Semen(TFS)on liverlipid level and ERα expressionon liver in hyperlipidemia rats with kidney-Yang deficiency pattern to explore the substance basis and mechanism of Astragali Complanati Semen in regulate lipid effect and clarify traditional Chinese medicine advantages and features. This experiment uses hyperlipidemia rats with kidney-Yang deficiency pattern with bilateral ovariectomized and fed with high fat diet for 6 weeks. And rats of sham operation group and model group rats were intragastrilly(ig) with saline, estrogen group were intragastrilly with estrogen(0.2 mg·kg⁻¹). And three TFS group were intragastrilly with TFS at dose 28.5, 57, 114 mg·kg⁻¹ for 8 weeks. At the same time, TC, TG, LDL-C,HDL-C liver weight, liver index, uterine weight, uterine index, serum estrogen level, FSH levels and liver pathology, liver estrogen receptor expression were detected, weighting and calculating their organ index. The experimental results compared with the model group, TFS 114 mg·kg⁻¹ decreased the level of liver TG ( P <0.05), TC ( P <0.001) and LDL-C ( P <0.001) and increased the level of HDL-C ( P <0.05). Compared with the model group, estrogen group increased the level of blood serum ( P <0.001) and decreased the level of FSH ( P <0.001). In addition, compared with sham operation group,model group decreased the protein expression of ERα（ P <0.01）. Compared with the model group, estrogen group increased the protein expression of ERα significantly（ P <0.001）.TFS mid-dose group and TFS high-dose group is increased the protein expression of ERα（ P <0.01, P <0.001）.In a conclusion,Flavonoids is the main active ingredient of Astragali Complanati Semen. The mechanism of it maybe is enhancing the estrogen receptor sensitivity or the number of estrogen receptors, amplifying the signal after the receptor conduction, which could result in lipid-lowering effect., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

To study the effect of the combined administration of different doses of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma on the proliferation of DFMO-treated intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6) and p53, p21 mRNA and protein expressions, in order to define the molecular basis for the effect of the combined administration of different doses of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma and Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma on the cell proliferation. The effect of the drugs on the cell division rate and cell cycle of IEC-6 cells was detected by FCM. Quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to analyze the effect of the drugs on mRNA of p2l and p53 related to IEC-6 proliferation. Western blot was used to analyze the effect of the drugs on p2l and p53 protein expressions of IEC-6 cells. Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma could increase p53, p21 mRNA and proteins expression in DFMO-treated IEC-6 cells. The combined administration of different ratios of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma could significantly down-regulate Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma's effect on p53, p21 mRNA and proteins expression in DFMO-treated IEC-6 cells and promote the proliferation of IEC-6 cells. The combined administration of Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma and Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma could down-regulate Atractylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma's effect on DFMO-treated intestinal epithelial cells (IEC-6).

The progress in integrative medicine (IM) of coronary heart disease (CHD) in 2013 was summarized in this paper. Gratifying progress has taken place both in clinical studies and basic research of IM on CHD during 2013. We got some innovation in Chinese medical etiologies and pathogeneses of CHD. We also got some improvement in researches on Chinese medical syndromes in various fields. Many clinical studies have proved Chinese medicine and pharmacy is playing a role in preventing and improving CHD patients. In-depth basic researches on preventing and treating CHD by IM are gradually undergoing. Acting targets and mechanism are further clarified. Besides, we also pointed out the developing tendency of CHD researches and the current deficiency in CHD researches, hoping to provide reference for further studies in this field.

To investigate the cell-killing effect and its possible mechanism of rClone30-hDR5 in combination with TRAIL on human hepatic carcinoma (HCC) cell line, first of all, recombinant plasmid pee12.4-hDR5 was introduced into HepG2 cells by liposome transfection. After five rounds of screening by flow cytometry, HepG2 cells expressing high levels of DR5 on cell surface were isolated. The cytotoxicity of TRAIL to selected cells was higher than that of TRAIL to HepG2 cells by MTT method (P < 0.01). The result suggested that the cloned hDR5 gene had biological activity. MTT assay showed that, rClone30- hDR5 in combination with TRAIL more efficiently inhibited the tumor growth of HepG2 cells compared to rClone30-hDR5 or TRAIL in vitro. The results of Annexin V-FITC/PI staining and Quantitative Real-time PCR indicated that rClone30-hDR5 in combination with TRAIL significantly increased the mRNA levels of caspase 3 and caspase 8, and induced the apoptosis of tumor cells. HepG2 cells were infected with rClone30-hDR5 or rClone30 at MOI of 1. The expression of hDR5 on tumor surface increased significantly by rClone30-hDR5 compared to that by rClone30, which contributed to the sensitivity to TRAIL. In conclusion, rClone30-hDR5 in combination with TRAIL has potential application value in cancer treatment.

Fifty-eight urban road dust samples were collected in June of 2009 from Suzhou, Wuxi and Nantong, South Jiangsu Province. Eight polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) congeners and thirty-two polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners were measured using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Concentrations of Sigma8PBDEs and Sigma32PCBs ranged from 4. 21 to 1 471 microg.kg-1 and ND was 14. 1 microg.kg-1 in the road dust samples, respectively. On the average, levels of PBDEs were much higher than PCBs in samples. Compared with the levels of PBDEs and PCBs in urban soil samples, results indicated that PBDEs levels observed in road dust samples were much higher than urban soil samples collected from other cities. Road dust PBDEs from combustion sources and vehicle emission should be attracted concerns. No significant difference was found between the levels of PBDEs or PCBs in the industrial areas and the urban center area, but was higher than landscape area. The results showed that there were exited unintentional emissions of PCBs in industrial areas. Investigation of compositional pattern of PBDEs indicated that BDE209 was the predominant congener in all samples, contributed 96.7% (64. 1% -99.8% ) of Sigma8 PBDEs . The dominant congeners in the Sigma32PCBs were tetra-PCBs and hexa-PCBs. The compositional pattern of PCBs congeners found in the road dust was not consistent with that of the commercial PCBs product and other environmental matrix.

Objective: To investigate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and hyaluronic acid (HA) on the proliferation of rabbit chondrocytes in vitro., Methods: Chondrocytes from the knee joints of New Zealand white rabbits were cultured. bFGF or HA or both were added into the culture medium respectively, and the proliferation of the chondrocytes was measured with MTT 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl) 2, 5-diphenyl-tetra-zolium bromide. (MTT, Sigma, M2128)., Results: Basic fibroblast growth factor (10 ng/ml) with low concentration of fetal bovine serum in the culture medium promoted the proliferation of chondrocytes significantly, and this effect reached its maximum when concentration of bFGF reached 50 ng/ml. HA itself had no effect on the proliferation of chondrocytes. However, when bFGF was used in combination with HA, especially when the concentration of bFGF was 50-500 ng/ml and that of HA was 10-50 ng/ml, the effect on the proliferation of chondrocytes was much more than when bFGF or HA was used alone., Conclusions: bFGF can promote the proliferation of chondrocytes. HA, which has no effect on the proliferation of the cells, can maintain a normal growth of chondrocytes. When bFGF is used in combination with HA, more proliferation is obtained.