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Toxoplasma gondii is a widely spread opportunistic pathogen that can infect nearly all warm-blooded vertebrates and cause serious toxoplasmosis in immunosuppressed animals and patients. However, the relationship between the host's innate immune system and effector proteins is poorly understood, particularly with regard to how effectors antagonize cGAS-STING signaling during T. gondii infection. In this study, the ROP5 from the PRU strain of T. gondii was found to promote cGAS-STING-mediated immune responses. Mechanistically, ROP5 interacted with STING through predicted domain 2 and modulated cGAS-STING signaling in a predicted domain 3-dependent manner. Additionally, ROP5 strengthened cGAS-STING signaling by enhancing the K63-linked ubiquitination of STING. Consistently, ROP5 deficient PRU (PRUΔROP5) induced fewer type I IFN-related immune responses and replicated faster than the parental strain in RAW264.7 cells. Taken together, this study provides new insights into the mechanism by which ROP5 regulates T. gondii infection and provides new clues for strategies to prevent and control toxoplasmosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of acid leaching high pressure method on the content of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, ganoderma lucidum total triterpenoids and ergosterol in unbroken ganoderma lucidum spores were compared with those of unbroken and broken ganoderma lucidum spores without being treated by acid leaching and high pressure.The content of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides in ganoderma lucidum spores was determined by UV-visible spectrophotometry with anhydrous glucose as reference substance; the content of ganoderma lucidum total triterpenoids in ganoderma lucidum spores was determined by UV-visible spectrophotometry with oleanolic acid as reference substance; the content of ergosterol of Ganoderma lucidum spores was determined by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with ergosterol as a reference substance, and the contents of the three components were compared according to the results.The results showed that for unbroken ganoderma lucidum spores treated by acid-leaching and high-pressure, its content of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides was significantly higher than that of both unbroken and broken ganoderma lucidum spores without being treated by acid leaching and high-pressure, and the content of ganoderma lucidum total triterpenoids and ergosterol was significantly higher than that of unbroken ganoderma lucidum spores without being treated by acid leaching and high-pressure.The acid leaching high pressure method can be used as a new method for breaking the wall of ganoderma lucidum spores.The content of ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide, ganoderma lucidum total triterpenoids and ergosterol obtained by this method is significantly higher than that of the control group.

The workability, strength and permeability of self-consolidating concrete (SCC), reinforced with polypropylene monofilament fibre, collated fibrillated polypropylene network fibre and a hybrid of these two, are investigated. Combined impacts of polypropylene fibres on SCC are then analysed using the theory of Bingham plastic flow, the principle of fracture mechanics and the composition of microstructure based on scanning electron microscopy. Results show that: (a) in the case of identical fibre volume fraction, the workability of fresh SCC reinforced with polypropylene monofilament fibre is better than that with fibrillated polypropylene network fibre; (b) when the fibre volume fraction is less than 0·10%, strength properties and water impermeability of hardened SCC increase with the fibre addition, and the charge passed increases slightly, but when the fibre volume fraction is higher than 0·15%, the charge increases dramatically; (c) SCC with polypropylene monofilament fibre has better impermeability, but lower static strength than that with fibrillated polypropylene network fibre; (d) compared with ordinary SCC, SCC with the hybrid of 0·05% volume fraction of polypropylene monofilament fibre and 0·05% collated fibrillated polypropylene network fibre has a 22% increase in flexural tensile strength, a 21% increase in splitting strength and a 56% decrease in water penetration depth, and the Coulomb value of chloride ion penetrability is low, about 1013 C at 56 d. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differentiation characteristics of landscape pattern affect the urban thermal environment. In this study, temperature characteristics of nine types of landscape in a national forest city, Longquan City, were analyzed by temperature inversion method and spatial analysis. The landscape pattern analysis method was used to explore the correlation of landscape metrics and the thermal environment from 1 km to 3.5 km. The results showed that the high and sub-high temperature zones of Longquan City were distributed in northeast-southwest, mainly composed of urban and rural residential areas. The low and sub-low temperature zone were mainly distributed in the northwest and southeast areas, mainly composed of public welfare forests. By calculating the mean land surface temperature of each landscape type in the area below 700 m above sea level, the temperature of coniferous forest, broadleaf forest, conifer-broadleaf forest, bamboo forest and water was relatively low, whereas that of shrub land, other forest land, cultivated land and construction land was relatively high. Through the analysis of landscape pattern and thermal environment, it was found that the class pattern index was more practical than the landscape pattern index. The correlation between thermal environment effect and construction land distribution reached 0.835, coniferous forest land, broadleaf forest land, coniferous-broadleaf forest land and water were the second, up to -0.5 to -0.4. The cooling effects of different forest types vaied across different spatial scales. Broadleaved forests and coniferous-broadleaved forests were more conducive to cooling at large scales. The larger the area and volume stock of forest land, the more likely it had the lowest land surface temperature.

Poxvirus is one of the most serious zoonosis pathogens, which has largest genome and broadest host spectrum. With the development of molecular biology, functional genomics, and immunology-related technology, the interactions between pathogen and the host, particularly a large array of host range factors and their functions have been increasingly discovered. These findings provide references for the molecular basis of poxvirus tissue tropism and host specificity. This review focus on the introduction of host range factors in major members of Chordopoxvirinae to highlight the understanding of the mechanisms of molecular genetic evolution, the host tropism, and cross-species infection of poxviruses.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are germline-encoded pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that play a central role in host cell recognition and responses to virus infection, leading to the production of interferons (IFNs) and proinflammatory cytokines. In parallel, in order to establish an infection, viruses have to develop exclusively strategies to interfere with TLRs signaling, particularly some important adaptors activation such as MyD88, NF-kappaB, TRIF and IRFs, and suppress or escape host's antiviral immune response. In this paper, we review the latest findings on the various strategies used by viruses to modulate TLRs-mediated innate immune response, with special emphasis on immune evasion mechanism of VACV, HCV and HIV. By highlighting recent progress in these areas, we hope to convey a greater understanding of how viruses hamper TLRs signaling and how to overcome viral infection.

Objective: To investigate the effects of exogenous bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) on biomechanical property for ulna of fracture healing., Methods: Thirty-six adult rabbits were made the model of right ulnar fracture and treated locally with TGF-beta/PLA, BMP/PLA, TGF-beta + BMP/PLA or PLA (as control group). Fracture healing was evaluated by measurement of the mechanical parameters and geometric parameters., Results: As compared with control group, the geometric parameters, the bending broken load, the ultimate bending strength, the bending elastic modulus, the ultimate flexural strength, the flexural elastic modulus, the ultimate compressing strength, the compressing elastic modulus, and the ultimate tensile strength for ulna of fracture healing increased significantly in the treatment groups(P < 0.01). These parameters were higher in TGF-beta + BMP/PLA group than in TGF-beta/PLA group or in BMP/PLA group and in TGF-beta/PLA group than in BMP/PLA group(P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in bone density between the treatment groups and control group., Conclusion: Local application of exogenous TGF-beta and BMP can increase the callus formation and enhance biomechanical strength of bone after fracture healing. A combination of TGF-beta and BMP has synergetic effect in enhancing fracture healing.

Objective: To study the imprinting status and expression level of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) gene in colorectal cancer and to provide a clue for the mechanism of carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer., Methods: The expression levels of IGF2 in the paired colorectal cancer and adjacent normal tissue were examined and compared by use of semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The imprinting status of IGF2 was detected by restriction fragment length polymorphism. The relationships between the expression level of IGF2, its imprinting status, and the carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer were analyzed., Results: IGF2 was overexpressed in 82.4% (28/34) of colorectal cancer tissues which was significantly higher than those of the matched normal tissues (P<0.01, t=3.01). 87.5% (14/16) of colorectal cancer showed loss of imprinting(LOI), while 71.4%(10/14) of normal tissues also displayed LOI of IGF2., Conclusion: Overexpression of IGF2 was found to play an important role in carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer. LOI of IGF2 may be a prophase manifestation of colorectal cancer.