Analysis of some herbal plants from India used in the control of diabetes mellitus by NAA and AAS techniques

Elemental analysis of some herbal plants used in the control of diabetes has been done by the techniques of Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) and Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The elements Mn, Na, K, Cl, Al, Cu, Co, Pb, Ni, Cr, Cd, Fe, Ca, Zn and Hg are found to be present in different plants in various proportions.     

Metastatic pulmonary artery sarcoma. Report of a case with diagnosis by fine needle aspiration

Spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) of 3 to 12 months of age learned and retrieved less information than normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY), although no difference was found with animals from 18 and 24 months of age. The combined influence of hypertension and aging had an additive detrimental effect on cognitive functions. Notwithstanding these deficiencies in learning and memory, SHR have seldom been used as a model in the screening of drugs with therapeutic potential for treatment of disorders of cognitive processes. Moreover, the calcium channel blocker nimodipine has beneficial effects on learning in both aged and hypertensive animals and humans. However, no attempt has been made to investigate whether nimodipine can reverse the additive deleterious effects of aging and hypertension in the same subject. We recently reported that deteriorated animals (middle-aged and/or hypertensive) chronically treated with nimodipine (via osmotic minipumps) exhibit higher learning scores. This information indicates that nimodipine can reverse the impairing effects of either aging or hypertension on learning; the presence of the two conditions, however, produces a severe impairment that can be partially reversed by this drug. Therefore, we propose that mature and middle-aged SHR represent a model for the screening of potentially useful drugs in the treatment of learning disorders, probably associated with hypertension and/or aging. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that the SHR is a genetic model and the appearance of neural disturbances could be a parallel genetic phenomenon and not necessarily or exclusively related to hypertension per se.     

Isolation of acidophilic methane-oxidizing bacteria from northern peat wetlands

Acidic northern wetlands are an important source of methane, one of the gases that contributes to global warming. Methane oxidation in the surface of these acidic wetlands can reduce the methane flux to the atmosphere up to 90 percent. Here the isolation of three methanotrophic microorganisms from three boreal forest sites is reported. They are moderately acidophilic organisms and have a soluble methane monooxygenase. In contrast to the known groups of methanotrophs, 16S ribosomal DNA sequence analysis shows that they are affiliated with the acidophilic heterotrophic bacterium Beijerinckia indica subsp. indica.     

Combined hyperlipidemia in transgenic mice overexpressing human apolipoprotein Cl

We have generated transgenic mice over-expressing human apolipoprotein CI (apo CI) using the native gene joined to the downstream 154-bp liver-specific enhancer that we defined for apo E. Human apo CI (HuCI)-transgenic mice showed elevation of plasma triglycerides (mg/dl) compared to controls in both the fasted (211 +/- 81 vs 123 +/- 52, P = 0.0001) and fed (265 +/- 105 vs 146 +/- 68, P < 0.0001) states. Unlike the human apo CII (HuCII)- and apo CIII (HuCIII)-transgenic mouse models of hypertriglyceridemia, plasma cholesterol was disproportionately elevated (95 +/- 23 vs 73 +/- 23, P = 0.002, fasted and 90 +/- 24 vs 61 +/- 14, P < 0.0001, fed). Lipoprotein fractionation showed increased VLDL and IDL + LDL with an increased cholesterol/triglyceride ratio (0.114 vs 0.065, P = 0.02, in VLDL). The VLDL apo E/apo B ratio was decreased 3.4-fold (P = 0.05) and apo CII and apo CIII decreased in proportion to apo E. Triglyceride and apo B production rates were normal, but clearance rates of VLDL triglycerides and postlipolysis lipoprotein "remnants" were significantly slowed. Plasma apo B was significantly elevated. Unlike HuCII- and HuCIII-transgenic mice, VLDL from HuCI transgenic mice bound heparin-Sepharose, a model for cell-surface glycosaminoglycans, normally. In summary, apo CI overexpression is associated with decreased particulate uptake of apo B-containing lipoproteins, leading to increased levels of several potentially atherogenic species, including cholesterol-enriched VLDL, IDL, and LDL.     

Thapsigargin and receptor-mediated activation of Drosophila TRPL channels stably expressed in a Drosophila S2 cell line

The Drosophila melanogaster genes, transient receptor potential (trp) and transient receptor potential-like (trpl) encode putative plasma membrane cation channels TRP and TRPL, respectively. We have stably co-expressed Drosophila TRPL with a Drosophila muscarinic acetylcholine receptor (DM1) in a Drosophila cell line (S2 cells). Basal Ca2+ levels measured using Fura-2/AM in unstimulated S2-DM1-TRPL cells were low and indistinguishable from untransfected cells, indicating that the TRPL channels were not constitutively active in this expression system. Activation of DM1 receptor in S2-DM1-TRPL cells by 100 microM carbamylcholine induced Ca2+ release from an intracellular Ca2+ pool followed by a Gd(3+)-insensitive Ca2+ influx. Pretreatment of S2-DM1-TRPL cells with 10 microM atropine abolished Gd(3+)-insensitive Ca2+ influx triggered by carbamylcholine, but the response was not blocked by prior incubation with pertussis toxin. TRPL channels could also be reliably activated by bath application of 1 microM thapsigargin for 10 min or 100 nM thapsigargin for 60 min in Ca(2+)-free solution. In some cells, TRPL channels activated by thapsigargin could further be activated by carbamylcholine. The findings suggest that, when stably expressed in the S2 cell line, TRPL may be regulated by two distinct mechanisms: (i) store depletion; and (ii) stimulation of DM1 receptor via pertussis-toxin insensitive G-protein (or the subsequent activation of PLC), but without further requirement for Ca2+ release.     

江苏德邦化工集团有限公司，江苏连云港 222023

1 简介 印度第一个纯碱厂始建于1932年,位于印度西部古吉拉特邦的Dhrangadhra,装置能力为50t/d。 作为基础无机化工产品,因为整个印度无天然碱矿,全部产品--包括轻灰和重灰只能以合成法生产。     

Determination of the amino acid requirements for a protein hinge in triosephosphate isomerase

We have determined the sequence requirements for a protein hinge in triosephosphate isomerase. The codons encoding the hinge at the C-terminus of the active-site lid of triosephosphate isomerase were replaced with a genetic library of all possible 8,000 amino acid combinations. The most active of these 8,000 mutants were selected using in vivo complementation of a triosephosphate isomerase deficient strain of E. coli, DF502. Approximately 3% of the mutants complement DF502 with an activity that is above 70% of wild-type activity. The sequences of these hinge mutants reveal that the solutions to the hinge flexibility problem are varied. Moreover, these preferences are sequence dependent; that is, certain pairs occur frequently. They fall into six families of similar sequences. In addition to the hinge sequences expected on the basis of phylogenetic analysis, we selected three new families of 3-amino-acid hinges: X(A/S)(L/K/M), X(aromatic/beta-branched)(L/K), and XP(S/N). The absence of these hinge families in the more than 60 known species of triosephosphate isomerase suggests that during evolution, not all of sequence space is sampled, perhaps because there is no neutral mutation pathway to access the other families.