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Because of its rather low melt strength, polylactide (PLA) has yet to fulfill its promise as advanced biobased and biodegradable foams to replace fossil-based polymer foams. In this work, PLA vitrimers were prepared by two-step reactive processing from commercial PLA thermoplastics, glycerol, and diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) using Zn(II)-catalyzed addition and transesterification chemistry. The transesterification reaction of PLA and glycerol occurs with zinc acetate as the catalyst, and chain scission will take place due to the alcoholysis of the PLA chains by the free hydroxyl groups from the glycerol. Long-chain PLA with hydroxyl groups can be obtained and then cross-linked with MDI. Rheological analysis shows that the formed cross-linked network can significantly improve melt strength and promote strain hardening under extensional flow. PLA vitrimers still maintain the ability of thermoplastic processing via extrusion and compression. The enhanced melt strength and the rearrangement of network topology facilitate the foaming processing. An expansion ratio as large as 49.2-fold and microcellular foam with a uniform cell morphology can be obtained for PLA vitrimers with a gel fraction of 51.8% through a supercritical carbon dioxide foaming technique. This work provides a new way with the scale-up possibility to enhance the melt strength of PLA, and the broadened range of PLA applicability brought by PLA vitrimers is truly valuable in terms of the realization of a sustainable society.

In order to investigate the effects of furrow and ridge rainwater harvesting, straw mulching, and reduced and slow-release fertilizer on soil microbial community structure of rapeseed, a two-year field study was conducted in rainy (2016-2017) and drought (2017-2018) seasons, which included three cultivation patterns:1 conventional flat planting, 2 straw mulching, and 3 ridge-furrow rainfall harvesting system and four fertilization patterns:1 conventional fertilization (100% of the amount), 2 reduced slow-release fertilizer Ⅰ (80% of the amount), 3 reduced slow-release fertilizer Ⅱ (60% of the amount), and 4 no fertilizer. The results indicated that it was rainy in 2016-2017, with seasonal drought during the nutritional growth stage in 2017-2018. The two technologies (straw mulching+80% slow-release fertilizer, J80 and ridge-furrow rainfall harvesting system+80% slow-release fertilizer, M80) were beneficial to boost the soil microbial activity. J80 and M80 increased the microbial biomass carbon by 9.94% and 10.32% and microbial biomass nitrogen by 2.38% and 1.19%, respectively, compared with that of the local cultivation pattern under two different climate conditions. The total amount of microbial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) decreased by 30.75% in the rainy year compared with that in the drought year, and mulching technology could effectively increase the total amount of soil PLFA. The PLFA contents of soil bacteria and fungi in the rainy year were 33.67% and 53.21%, respectively, lower than those in the drought year. However, the PLFA content of actinomycetes increased by 13.04%. Microbial communities were sensitive to abnormal precipitation. The bacteria/fungi ratio increased in rainy weather. The drought climate heighted the ratio of straight chain saturated fatty acid/straight chain monounsaturated fatty acid and straight chain monounsaturated fatty acid/cyclopropane acid. In conclusion, adopting the optimal cultivation technologies can stabilize the soil microenvironment under abnormal precipitation, relieve water and nutrient stress, and provide an effective means for rapeseed sustainable development.

Although the protective effect of ginsenoside on cisplatin-induced renal injury has been extensively studied, whether ginsenoside interferes with the antitumor effect of cisplatin has not been confirmed. In this paper, we verified the main molecular mechanism of 20(R)-ginsenoside Rg3 (R-Rg3) antagonizing cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) through the combination of in vivo and in vitro models. It is worth mentioning that the two cell models of HK-2 and HepG2 were used simultaneously for the first time to explore the effect of the activation site of tumor-associated protein p53 on apoptosis and tumor suppression. The results showed that a single injection of cisplatin (20 mg/kg) led to weight loss, the kidney index of the mice increased, and creatinine (CRE) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels in mice sharply increased. Continuous administration of R-Rg3 at doses of 10 and 20 mg/kg for 10 days could significantly alleviate this symptom. Similarly, R-Rg3 treatment reduced oxidative stress damage caused by cisplatin. Moreover, R-Rg3 could observably reduce the apoptosis and inflammatory infiltration of renal tubular cells induced by cisplatin. We used western blotting analysis to demonstrate that R-Rg3 restored cisplatin-induced AKI might be related to PI3K/AKT and NF-[Formula: see text]B mediated apoptosis and inflammation pathways. In the meantime, we also verified that R-Rg3 could activate different sites of p53 to control renal cell apoptosis induced by cisplatin without affecting its antitumor effect.

Old trees are critical components of ecosystems, with important ecological function and high genetic diversity. To strengthen the protection and management of old trees, we analyzed the distribution, survival and protection status of old trees and their threatened factors in China. The results showed there were a total of 10.66 million old trees in China. The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Yunnan Province had more than one million trees, respectively. For 440000 old trees in 102 counties, 94.3% grew normally, 5.5% in a weak or endangered status, and 0.2% had been dead. The main factors threatened to old trees included natural disasters (古树是生态系统的组成部分,具有重要的生态功能和丰富的遗传多样性。为加强古树的科学保护和管理,本文分析了我国古树资源的分布、生存和保护现状以及受威胁因素。结果表明: 我国古树共记录1066万株,其中内蒙古自治区和云南省均超过100万株。分析全国102个县级地区的44万株古树的生长现状,发现有94.3%的古树生长良好,5.5%生长衰弱或濒危,0.2%已经死亡。古树受威胁因素主要有高温、干旱、火灾等自然灾害,以及城市化和土地利用、病虫害和乱砍偷盗等。病虫害的威胁最严重,有83个地区(81.4%)受病虫害威胁严重;其次是自然灾害的威胁,有68个地区(66.7%)发生过自然灾害。大部分古树(89%)分布在农村等偏远地区,缺乏有效的保护措施。可以利用无人机等新技术监测古树生长状态,加强病虫害防治和规避自然灾害,并建立古树资源数据库实现信息及时更新共享,避免偷盗砍伐。.

With increased cultivation area of transgenic plants worldwide, the ecological risks of cultivating transgenic plants have received wide concerns. One of the risks is the occurrence and consequences of gene flow between transgenic plants and their relatives. Here, we reviewed the ratio and the maximum occurrence distance of gene flow for transgenic oilseed rape (随着转基因植物的大面积种植,转基因植物的生态风险受到广泛关注,其中主要的风险是转基因植物与近缘物种之间的基因流及其影响。本文综述了目前商业化种植的转基因作物油菜、棉花、玉米和大豆,以及未商业化种植的水稻、小麦的基因流研究进展;分析了不同转基因作物与其近缘种之间发生基因流的频率和最远发生距离;介绍了降低基因流发生的方法。基因流频率受物种亲缘关系、花期重叠时间、风速风向等因素的影响,最远发生距离受气候条件、传粉媒介、地理条件等因素的影响。转基因作物与其近缘种之间的基因流频率与距花粉源的距离呈负相关关系(

Background: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of Infiltration between the Popliteal Artery and Capsule of the posterior Knee (IPACK) combined with an adductor canal block under the guidance of ultrasound on early motor function after Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA). Methods: A sample of 60 cases who were scheduled for elective unilateral TKA were divided into two groups using random number table method: a group with IPACK combined with an adductor canal block (I group, n = 30), and a group with femoral nerve block combined with superior popliteal sciatic nerve block (FS group, n = 30). Before anesthesia induction was completed, the patients in I group received an ultrasound-guided adductor canal block with 15 mL of 0.375% ropivacaine and an IPACK block with 25 mL of ropivacaine, and the patients in FS group received a femoral nerve block and a superior popliteal sciatic nerve block with 20 mL of 0.375% ropivacaine under ultrasound guidance. Post-operation, all the patients received patient-controlled intravenous analgesia combined with an oral celecoxib capsule to relieve pain and maintain a visual analogue scale score of ≤ 3. Results: The quadriceps femoris muscle strength score was significantly higher in I group than in FS group (p = 0.001), while the modified Bromage score were significantly lower and walking distance results were significantly higher in I group than in FS group (both p = 0.000). Conclusion: Compared with femoral nerve block combined with superior popliteal sciatic nerve block, IPACK combined with adductor canal block had a mild impact on early motor functions after TKA.

Power substation is a vital component of power transmission systems. However, their location information, longitude and latitude, maybe incorrect due to human errors. For example, an employee of a power grid company may carelessly input wrong location information to the system database. In practice, these errors residue in database and are difficult to be corrected or even unaware of because human naturally are insensitive to these long numbers. Correct location information is critical and it will ensure destroyed power substations to be quickly pinpointed and repaired after earthquake. In this paper, we develop a deep transfer learning approach to automatically verify power substation location information based upon Google Earth (GE)images. We first extract an image patch for a substation from GE using the recorded location information in database. We then apply the deep transfer learning model to verify whether the image patch contains a power substation. We validated the proposed method on more than 1000 substations in Yunnan Electric Power Grid. Our experimental results showed that the Xception deep transfer model achieved the best accuracy of 98.5% among four compared machine learning methods with an image size of 299⨯299 pixels. The developed model is a promising tool to verify the location information of power substations in database.

We compared the ground-dwelling beetle assemblages under four scenarios in which transgenic Bt (Cry 1Ac) cotton (33B), transgenic Bt (Cry 1Ac)+CpTI cotton (SGK321), conventional cotton (33), conventional cotton (Shiyuan 321) in North China. During the survey in two years (2009–2010), 24 ground beetle species were captured with pitfall traps in 20 plots which included five replicates for each cotton type. No significant difference was observed in the number of ground beetle species captured, activity density, evenness and Shannon-Wiener diversity among the four cotton varieties. Chlaenius posticalis was less abundant in transgenic Bt+CpTI cotton (SGK321) fields than its conventional cotton (Shiyuan 321), but more abundant in transgenic Bt cotton (33B) fields compared with its conventional cotton (33). There was no significant difference for other abundant species between in transgenic cotton and in conventional cotton fields. Based on non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis, ground-dwelling beetle assemblages were similar in transgenic and conventional cotton over the two years, but the ground-dwelling beetle assemblages in transgenic cotton 33B significantly differed from that in the conventional cotton (strain 33) in 2010. No strong evidence that the transgenic cotton effect on ground-dwelling beetle assemblages was found in this study.

Pristimerin (PM), a quinonemethide triterpenoid, is a promising anticancer agent with potent antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing activities against cancer cell lines. However, the anticancer activity and mechanisms of PM in prostate cancer cells have not been adequately investigated. Here we report that the degradation of survivin plays an important role in the antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects of PM in carcinoma of the prostate (CaP) cell lines. Treatment with PM inhibited proliferation and induced apoptosis in LNCaP and PC-3 cells as characterized by the loss of cell viability and an increase in Annexin V-binding and cleavage of PARP-1, respectively. The antiproliferative and apoptosis-inducing effects of PM were associated with the inhibition of cell cycle regulatory proteins, antiapoptotic survivin and members of the Bcl-2 family. Data showed that response to PM is regulated by survivin since overexpression of survivin rendered CaP cells resistant to PM. Furthermore, downregulation of survivin by PM was mediated through the ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation. Together, these data demonstrate that pristimerin inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis in CaP cells by abolishing survivin through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.

Lack of effective therapeutics for pancreatic cancer at the present time underscores the dire need for safe and effective agents for the treatment of this malignancy. In the present study, we have evaluated the anticancer activity and the mechanism of action of pristimerin (PM), a quinonemethide triterpenoid, against MiaPaCa-2 and Panc-1 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) cell lines. Treatment with PM inhibited the proliferation and induced apoptosis in both cell lines as characterized by the increased Annexin V-binding and cleavage of PARP-1 and procaspases -3, -8 and -9. PM also induced mitochondrial depolarization and the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria. The induction of apoptosis by PM was associated with the inhibition of the pro-survival Akt, NF-κB and mTOR signaling proteins and their downstream intermediaries such as Foxo-3α and cyclin D1 (Akt); Cox-2 and VEGF (NF-κB); p-S6K1 and p-4E-BP1 (mTOR) as well as PKCɛ. Treatment with PM also inhibited the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and survivin but not Bcl-xL. The downregulation of Bcl-2 by PM was not due to proteasomal or lysosomal proteolytic degradation of Bcl-2, since treatment with PM in the presence of proteasomal inhibitors MG132 or lactacystin (LAC) or calpain inhibitor MG101 failed to block the downregulation of Bcl-2 by PM. On the other hand, RT-PCR analysis showed the inhibition of Bcl-2 mRNA by PM in a dose-related manner, indicating that inhibition of Bcl-2 by PM is mediated through the suppression of Bcl-2 gene expression. Thus, the mechanistic understanding of the antitumor activity of pristimerin could facilitate in vivo efficacy studies of pristimerin for pancreatic cancer.

At present, NASA is engaged in research to develop Plasma flow control technology on aeronautic and astronautic scopes. This article presents a compositive MHD(magnetohydrodynamics) method to control high-velocity Plasma flow generate by alkali salts in combustion gas, demonstrates that MHD system can make the jet plume to deflect, and realizes the aeroengine thrust-vector purpose. By analyzing and applying the MHD mathematical model, the author performs the numerical simulation of plasma flows-field with the MHD condition，shows that the jet plume in plasma state can deflect with MHD.

This paper describes the technical background of J2EE and Android. The authors focus on the design of equipment management software using above technologies. Some key technologies are further analyzed in detail such as how to make mobile client to perform transaction with server side, the format of data exchange between mobile client and server side, etc.

Computer simulation is an important method in the study of cardiac electrophysiology. However, complicated studies in tissues are difficult because of the long computation time. In order to speed up the simulation, in this paper a parallel algorithm based on OpenMP was studied on a multi-core computer. The Noble 91 mathematical model was used to develop a two-dimensional tissue. By initiating a reentrant wave, properties of the conventional sequential program, programs of the data parallelism and functional parallelism were analyzed and compared. The results showed that the execution time of the data parallelism was only about one-fourth of the sequential execution time and its efficiency was high, however, the execution time of the functional parallelism was approximately ten times of the sequential execution time and its efficiency became low. Therefore, the method of the data parallelism could significantly reduce the computation time and was suggested to be a good choice in the myocardial simulation.

Bone marrow stem cells participate in tissue repair processes and may have a role in wound healing. Diabetes is characterised by delayed and poor wound healing. We investigated the potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) to promote healing of fascial wounds in diabetic rats. After manifestation of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic state for 5 weeks in male adult Sprague-Dawley rats, healing of fascial wounds was severely compromised. Compromised wound healing in diabetic rats was characterised by excessive polymorphonuclear cell infiltration, lack of granulation tissue formation, deficit of collagen and growth factor [transforming growth factor (TGF-beta), epidermal growth factor (EGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor PDGF-BB and keratinocyte growth factor (KGF)] expression in the wound tissue and significant decrease in biomechanical strength of wounds. Treatment with BMSC systemically or locally at the wound site improved the wound-breaking strength (WBS) of fascial wounds. The improvement in WBS was associated with an immediate and significant increase in collagen levels (types I-V) in the wound bed. In addition, treatment with BMSCs increased the expression of growth factors critical to proper repair and regeneration of the damaged tissue moderately (TGF-beta, KGF) to markedly (EGF, VEGF, PDGF-BB). These data suggest that cell therapy with BMSCs has the potential to augment healing of the diabetic wounds.

Methyltransferases play essential roles in modulating important cellular and metabolic processes. A mouse putative N6-DNA methyltransferase gene (GenBank No AY456393) is a novel gene named mN6amt1(mN6A1). To investigate its function in cell fate and protein translation, RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated knock-down method was established. Cell cycle analysis suggests that the cell proliferation decreases after RNAi with mN6A1. The expression plasmid of luciferase was used to detect protein translation, and the results showed that luciferase expression decreased after RNAi with mN6A1, whereas increased after over-expression of mN6A1 or/and eRF1. The binding between mN6A1 and eRF1 was identified by co-immunoprecipitation and pull-down experiments. It might be suggested that mN6A1 participates in protein translation through interaction with eRF1.

Pristimerin (PM) is a quinonemethide triterpenoid present in various plant species with strong antiprolifertive and proapoptotic activities in cancer cells. The effect of PM on telomerase which is reactivated in most cancers including carcinoma of the prostate (CaP) has not been studied. We investigated the effect of PM on the expression of human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene that codes for the catalytic subunit of the telomerase holoenzyme complex in prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and PC-3 cells. The inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of apoptosis by PM in both cell lines was associated with the inhibition of hTERT mRNA expression, suppression of native and phosphorylated hTERT protein and hTERT telomerase activity. The ablation of hTERT expression increased the sensitivity of cancer cells to PM. In addition, results also revealed that the inhibition of hTERT expression is attributed to the inhibition of transcription factors SP1, c-Myc and STAT3 and protein kinase B/Akt which regulate hTERT transcriptionally and post-translationally, respectively. These data provide evidence that telomerase is a potential target of PM in prostate cancer.

Agricultural biodiversity is a key part of the ecosystem biodiversity, but it receives little concern. The monoculture, environmental pollution and habitat fragmentation caused by agricultural activities have threatened agricultural biodiversity over the past 50 years. To optimize agricultural management measures for crop production and environmental protection, we reviewed the effects of agricultural activities, including cultivation patterns, plastic mulching, chemical additions and the cultivation of transgenic crops, on agricultural biodiversity. The results showed that chemical pesticides and fertilizers had the most serious influence and the effects of transgenic crops varied with other factors like the specific transgene inserted in crops. The environmental risk of transgenic crops should be assessed widely through case-by-case methods, particularly its potential impacts on agricultural biodiversity. It is important to consider the protection of agricultural biodiversity before taking certain agricultural practices, which could improve agricultural production and simultaneously reduce the environmental impacts.

Aniline is of great environmental concern with regards to widespread occurrence in water and soil and increasing threat into the life forms. Bioremediation involving the use of degrading bacterium in the removal of aniline is the most promising process, yet inhibited under low temperature usually. In the present study, a new psychrotrophic bacterial strain isolated from groundwater, designated AN-1, was shown to be capable of aniline degradation in a concentration range of 135–2202 mg L−1 within 72 h at 10 °C. Strain AN-1 was proposed to be a Pseudomonas migulae group of bacteria based on the evolutionary relationship and the morphological and biochemical characteristics. The pH, NaH2PO4, and aniline concentration were used as independent variables to optimize the aniline removal by AN-1 at 10 °C, and a statistically significant (R 2 = 0.9230, p

Pristimerin is a quinonemethide triterpenoid with the potential of a promising anticancer agent. Pristimerin (PM) has shown anticancer activity against a range of cancer cell lines, but its activity for prostate cancer has not been adequately investigated. In the present study we have examined the underlying mechanisms of the apoptotic response of the hormone-sensitive (LNCaP) and hormone-refractory (PC-3) prostate cancer cell lines to PM. Treatment with PM induced apoptosis in both cell lines as characterized by increased annexin V-binding and cleavage of PARP-1 and procaspases-3 and -9. It also induced mitochondrial depolarization, cytochrome c release from mitochondria and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Response to PM is regulated by Bcl-2 since it down-regulated Bcl-2 expression and overexpression of Bcl-2 rendered prostate cancer cells resistant to PM. ROS plays a role in down-regulation of Bcl-2, since treatment with PM in the presence of various ROS modulators, e.g., n-acetylcysteine (NAC), a general purpose antioxidant; diphenylene iodonium (DPI), a NADPH inhibitor; rotenone (ROT), a mitochondrial electron transport chain interrupter rotenone or MnTBAP, a O2 scavenger, attenuated the down-regulation of Bcl-2. Furthermore, ROS is also involved in the ubiquitination and proteasomal degradation of Bcl-2 as both of these events were blocked by O 2− scavenger MnTBAP. Thus, pristimerin induces apoptosis in prostate cancer cells predominately through the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway by inhibiting antiapoptic Bcl-2 through a ROS-dependent ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation pathway.

China is one of the origin centers of rice (Oryza sativa), with a distribution of abundant wild rice germplasm resources. Since the biosafety certificates were issued to Bt transgenic rice containing cry1Ac gene against lepidopteran pests, concerns are raised on the gene flow from transgenic rice to its wild relatives. This paper reviewed the occurrence of transgenic rice gene flow and its potential ecological consequences. Most studies suggested that transgenic rice could successfully hybridize with cultivated rice, wild rice (O. rufipogon), red rice (O. sativa f. spontanea), and barnyard grass (Echinochloa caudata), and the gene flow from transgenic rice had a lower occurrence frequency and was highly variable. Once the gene flow successfully occurred, the transgenes could introgress into a wild population within only a few generations because of the fitness advantage of transgenic rice due to the new selective traits of transgenes. When the transgenic plants invaded and persisted in a wild population, the dynamic changes of the mixed population would depend on the relative fitness and competition capability. To study the effects of the gene flow of transgenic rice and its long-term ecological consequences would have significance in rationally protecting and utilizing wild rice germplasm resources in China.

The parabolic equation (PE) method which deduced from the wave equation is the most precise one for predicting the radio propagation in troposphere, whereas the traditional algorithms only forecast forward-propagating waves but neglect backward-propagating waves giving rise to more error in the presence of irregular terrain boundary environment. Thus, in this paper, the recursive two-way parabolic equation modelling and its in-depth procedure is presented which can compute the forward propagation and backward propagation field over any irregular terrain enhance the computation accuracy and remedy the insufficiencies. Compared to traditional WAPE and GTD, the correctness and applicability of the model are verified by simulation results in the normal atmosphere over single knife-edge and couple triangles.

To detect the effect of tunicamycin on Fas protein expression and Fas monoclonal antibody (FasMcAb)-induced apoptosis of fibroblast from hypertrophic scar and keloid.The expression of Fas protein was detected by immunostaining in 5 cases of keloid, 5 cases of hypertrophic scar and 5 cases of normal skin as control. The fibroblasts were cultured and treated with tunicamycin. The Fas protein expression and the fibroblast apoptosis rate were assessed by Western Blot and flow cytometry.It revealed that Fas protein was detectable in all the three groups. The Fas glycosylation level was highest in hypertrophic scar, but lowest in normal skin. The FasMcAb-induced apoptosis had a positive relationship with the Fas glycosylation. Tunicamycin had a significant inhibitory effect on the Fas glycosylation in keloid and hypertrophic scar, but not in normal skin.The FasMcAb-induced apoptosis has a positive relationship with the Fas glycosylation. Tunicamycin has a significant inhibitory effect on the Fas glycosylation in keloid and hypertrophic scar.

Bone marrow-derived stromal cells (BMSCs) exhibit extraordinary degree of plasticity and growth factor repertoire for which they have been investigated for repair and regeneration of damaged tissues, but have not been adequately examined for wound healing. The ability of BMSCs to accelerate healing of surgically inflicted cutaneous and fascial wounds was tested in vivo in rats and in vitro using a fibroblast monolayer wound model. Intravenous treatment with BMSCs augmented healing of both cutaneous and fascial wounds as determined by an increase in the biomechanical strength of wounds. In vitro experiments showed that incorporation of BMSCs in fibroblast monolayers accelerates the closure of mechanically disrupted monolayers, which was attributed to the enhanced migration of fibroblasts onto the denuded surfaces. Furthermore, culture medium conditioned by activated BMSCs promoted the closure of defects in monolayers and enhanced the proliferation/growth and directional migration (chemotaxis) of fibroblasts. This study demonstrates that BMSCs significantly augment healing of cutaneous and fascial wounds in vivo at least in part through interaction with fibroblasts in which BMSCs promote growth and chemotaxis of fibroblasts.

Methylation is one of epigenetic mechanisms regulating gene expression. The methylation pattern is determined during embryogenesis and passed over to differentiating cells and tissues. Beginning with the ESTs which were highly expressed in undifferentiated human ES cells and using homology research in mouse dbEST database, we cloned two novel putative (N 5)-glutamine methyltransferase (Hemk) splice variants termed mHemk1 and mHemk2 (Genbank accession number AY456393 and AY583759). Sequence analysis revealed that mHemk1 and mHemk2 cDNAs are 1,792 bp and 1,696 bp in length respectively. The deduced proteins have 214 amino acid residues (mHemk1) and 138 residues (mHemk2) in length and both share significant homology with (N 5)-glutamine methyltransferase (Hemk proteins) in database. Northern blot and RT-PCR analysis showed that mHemk mRNAs were abundantly expressed in undifferentiated ES cells, testis and brain, weakly expressed in differentiated ES cells and kidney, and not expressed in muscle, heart, placenta, pancreas, lung and stomach. Immunohistochemical analysis further revealed that the protein was most abundant in undifferentiated ES cells. The green fluorescent protein produced by pEGFP-C3/mHemk1 was detected mainly in the nucleus of COS7 cell lines after 24 h post-transfection. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated knock-down method was established. Cell cycle analysis suggests that the cell proliferation decreases after RNAi with mHemk1. In vitro bioactivity assay showed that no evidence for a DNA adenine-methyltransferase activity was detected. The accumulating functional information from Hemk homology proteins in bacteria and yeast suggests that it may be an uncharacterized new mammalian N 5-glutamine methyltransferase.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) are multipotential stem cells capable of differentiation into numerous cell types, including fibroblasts, cartilage, bone, muscle, and brain cells. BMSCs also secrete a large number of growth factors and cytokines that are critical to the repair of injured tissues. Because of the extraordinary plasticity and the ability of syngeneic or allogeneic BMSCs to secrete tissue-repair factors, we investigated the therapeutic efficacy of BMSCs for healing of fascial and cutaneous incisional wounds in Sprague-Dawley rats. Systemic administration of syngeneic BMSCs (2 x 10(6)) once daily for 4 days or a single treatment with 5 x 10(6) BMSCs 24 hours after wounding significantly increased the wound bursting strength of fascial and cutaneous wounds on days 7 and 14 postwounding. Wound healing was also significantly improved following injection of BMSCs locally at the wound site. Furthermore, allogeneic BMSCs were as efficient as syngeneic BMSCs in promoting wound healing. Administration of BMSCs labeled with iron oxides/1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate fluorescent dye revealed that systemically administered BMSCs engraft to the wound. The increase in the tensile strength of wounds treated with BMSCs was associated with increased production of collagen in the wound. In addition, BMSC treatment caused more rapid histologic maturation of wounds compared with untreated wounds. These data suggest that cell therapy with BMSCs has the potential to augment healing of surgical and cutaneous wounds.

The hydrological modeling can be considered as one of major possibilities for the quantification and qualification of changes in hydrological processes. For the application the WetSpa (Water and Energy Transfer between Soil, Plant and Atmosphere) model calibrated for the Hornad River Basin have been chosen. WetSpa simulates the most important hydrological processes in a river basin, such as runoff, actual evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, and hydrographs at selected locations in the stream network, etc. The application have been done in the frame of the scientific objectives of the Tisza River Project – Real-life scale integrated catchment modelling for supporting water-related environmental management decisions (5th Framework Programme EU on Research and Technology Development). The Department of Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, the research unit of the Free University of Brussels (VUB) in cooperation with Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMÚ) and Water Research Institute in Bratislava (VÚVH) were responsible for calibration, validation and application of the WetSpa model in the Hornad River basin.

To detect gene mutations of p53 gene (exon 4-6) in fibroblasts.Samples of keloids were taken from 15 patients. The mutations of p53 gene were detected using polymerase chain reaction, the single-strand conformational polymorphism(SSCP) analysis and DNA sequencing.Gene mutations in p53 gene exon 4, 5, and 6 were identified in all the patients with keloids.Gene mutations resulted in keloid p53 protein losing its functions of suppressing cell processes and conducting apoptosis.

To construct subtracted cDNA libraries of human vascular endothelial cells (VECs) related to gastrocarcinoma using suppression substractive hybridization (SSH) and to analyze cDNA libraries of gastrocarcinoma and VECs in Cancer Gene Anatomy Project (CGAP) database.Human VECs related to gastric adenocarcinoma and corresponding normal tissue were separated by magnetic beads coupled with antibody CD31 (Dynabeads CD31). A few amount of total RNA were synthesized and amplified by SMART PCR cDNA Synthesis Kit. Then, using SSH and T/A cloning techniques, cDNA fragments of differentially expressed genes in human VECs of gastric adenocarcinoma were inserted into JM109 bacteria. One hundred positive bacteria clones were randomly picked and identified by colony PCR method. To analyze cDNA libraries of gastrocarcinoma and VECs in CGAP database, the tools of Library Finder, cDNA xProfiler, Digital GENE Expression Displayer (DGED), and Digital Differential Display (DDD) were used.Forward and reverse subtraction cDNA libraries of human VECs related to gastrocarcinoma were constructed successfully with SSH and T/A cloning techniques. Analysis of CGAP database indicated that no appropriate library of VECs related to carcinoma was constructed.Construction of subtraction cDNA libraries of human VECs related to gastrocarcinoma was successful and necessary, which laid a foundation for screening and cloning new and specific genes of VECs related to gastrocarcinoma.

To detect Fas DNA mutations (exon 1-6) in the fibroblasts of patients with keloids, thereby to understand the clinicopathological implications of altered structure of the keloids.PCR followed by single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis and direct DNA sequencing were used to detect Fas gene mutations in 15 patients with keloids.Insertion and point mutations were identified on the boundary between intron 5 and exon 6 in two patients, while no Fas mutations were found in the fibroblasts derived from normal skin samples of any of the patients.Nonfunction of Fas protein may be related to aberrant gene structure that codes for the transmembrane domain.