Search

During the co-evolution with animals, plants evolved different defense strategies to resist predators and ensure their own survival and reproduction. We investigated the forging preference of nutcrackers (动植物协同演化过程中,植物为抵御捕食者的侵害,保证自身的生存和繁衍,会演化出不同方式的防御机制。本研究调查了星鸦对藏东南地区华山松弯曲球果上不同部位种子取食的差异性,并检测了华山松球果凹凸面种子的形态特征(长度、宽度、厚度、种壳厚度)和成分(粗水分、70 ℃干物质、粗脂肪、灰分、蛋白质、粗纤维)含量。结果表明: 华山松球果凹凸两面种子的部分形态特征和种子成分具有显著差异,其中,凸面种子种壳厚度(1.11±0.12 mm)比凹面种子(1.07±0.15 mm)厚,但种仁重占比凸面(24.0%)比凹面(25.4%)小。而凸面种子空壳率(11.2%)和种子成分中粗脂肪含量(47.0%)显著低于凹面种子(分别是15.8%和50.5%)。华山松弯曲球果对食种子动物取食造成错误性暗示,尽可能保护优质种子不被取食,因此球果弯曲是华山松对食种子动物的防御特征。.

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of 30 mg pioglitazone hydrochloride combined with sulphonylurea in the treatment of type 2 diabetic patients.A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group, multicenter study was performed. A total of 236 patients, who had fasting plasma glucose (FPG) 7.5 - 13.0 mmol/L and glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) 7.0% - 12.0%, treated with stable dosage of a sulphonylurea for at least 30 days previously, were randomized to receive placebo or pioglitazone 30 mg once daily for 16 weeks. The sulphonylurea and dosage remained unchanged.The patients who had been treated with pioglitazone 30 mg showed significant decrease than that in the placebo group on the average from baseline in FPG [(1.48 ± 2.08) mmol/L vs (-0.17 ± 1.92) mmol/L, P0.05], and in HbA1c [(0.92 ± 0.10)% vs (0.28 ± 0.11)%, P0.05]. Since fasting plasma insulin (FIns) levels decreased (0.24 ± 0.04) mU/L and (0.09 ± 0.04) mU/L in the two groups. The homeostatic model assessment insulin resistant (HOMA-IR) decreased 1.42 ± 2.90 and 0.46 ± 3.53 in two groups. The triglyceride level was decreased 0.36 mmol/L and 0.14 mmol/L, and the HDL-C level increased 0.17 mmol/L and 0.05 mmol/L in two groups. There were significant differences in two groups (all P0.05).The 16-week clinical study demonstrated that pioglitazone hydrochloride with a dosage of 30mg daily, could significantly improve the blood glucose control and enhance the insulin sensitivity, lower triglyceride and raise HDL-C level as an additional therapy to a stable-dose sulphonylurea in Chinese type 2 diabetic patients previously poorly controlled by single sulphonylurea therapy, and furthermore had good safety and compliance.

MicroRNA-1 (miR-1) is preferentially expressed in cardiac muscles, and the expression has been demonstrated to be involved in cardiac development and cardiovascular diseases. Here we report that miR-1 is closely related with ischemia/reperfusion injury in a rat model. The level of miR-1 is inversely correlated with Bcl-2 protein expression in cardiomyocytes of the I/R rat model. In vitro, the level of miR-1 was dramatically increased in response to H(2)O(2). Overexpression of miR-1 facilitated H(2)O(2)-induced apoptosis in cardiomyocytes. Inhibition of miR-1 by antisense inhibitory oligonucleotides caused marked resistance to H(2)O(2). Through bioinformatics, we identified the potential target sites for miR-1 on the 3' UTR of Bcl-2. miR-1 significantly reduced the expression of Bcl-2 in the levels of mRNA and protein. The post-transcriptional repression of Bcl-2 was further confirmed by luciferase reporter experiments. These data demonstrated that miR-1 plays an important role in the regulation of cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which is involved in post-transcriptional repression of Bcl-2.