[Facial swelling, fever, hypoproteinemia and exhaustion: discussion of an unusual case].
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Journal Article↗
Biomedical subjects
Z Liu
Publications and source records attributed to Z Liu.
[Evaluation of the safety of the dental amalgam].
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Journal Article↗
[A study of acidogenicity and demineralization of lactobacillus and streptococcus mutan].
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Journal Article↗
[IL-1alpha, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha mRNA expression in experimental periapical lesions in the rat].
OBJECTIVE: IL-1alpha, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha mRNA expression were analyzed in rat experimental periapical lesions to understand the relationship between the aforementioned cytokines and periapical lesion. METHODS: The molar tooth pulps of 16 SD rats were surgically exposed and left open to permit infection from the oral environment. Total cell RNA was isolated from periapical tissue obtained on days 3, 7, 14 and 28 after exposure. mRNA for IL-1alpha, IL-1beta and TNF-alpha was amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR), and levels were estimated by comparison to the parallel amplification of the housekeeping gene beta-actin. RESULTS: IL-1alpha,IL-1beta and TNF-alpha mRNA were all expressed beginning on day 7, peaked on day 14, and declined somewhat on day 28, but IL-1beta mRNA was expressed at much lower levels with the same kinetics (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: IL-1alphaand TNF-alpha may be primarily cytokines in rat periapical lesion model.
English Abstract↗
[The dynamic change of mercury concentration in urine after amalgam filled].
OBJECTIVE: Through the regular examination of mercury concentration in urine this study was to observe the dynamic change of the mercury concentration in the patients with amalgam fillings so as to find out the effect of amalgam on health. METHODS: Determine the mercury concentration of the patients in urine after amalgam filled regularly serving the mercury concentration of the patients in urine before amalgam filled as self control to observe the dynamic change of the mercury concentration in patients with amalgam fillings. RESULTS: It was found that mercury concentration in urine went up distinctly 1 day after amalgam filled dropped slightly 1 week after amalgam filled fell obviously and resumed almost to the baseline 2 weeks after amalgam filled set at the baseline 4 8 weeks and 1 year after amalgam filled. CONCLUSION: Amalgam don't have clear side effect on health based on the mercury concentration in urine.
English Abstract↗
[Base composition of DNA from fluoride resistant strains of streptococcus mutans and streptococcus sobrinus].
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the genotype change of fluoride-resistant strains of S.mutans and S.sobrinus. METHODS: High potential liquid chromatography was used to measure the base composition of DNA from F-resistant strains of S.mutans and S.sobrinus and their parent strains. RESULTS: The data showed that the DNA G+C mol% of F-resistant and F-sensitive S.mutans were quite different, the difference was over 5%. The four F-resistant strains were 54.45, 44.86, 54.41, 55, 390, whereas the corresponding four parent strains were 35.38, 37.4, 43.35, 46.62, respectively. CONCLUSION: The genotypes of F-resistant strains of S.mutans and S.sobrinus have been changed and may comprise several gene mutations.
English Abstract↗
[Analysis of tendency of false and inferior species from Chinese medicinal materials markets].
OBJECTIVE: To offer information on the supervision by analysing the change of origin of false and inferior species from Chinese medicinal materials (CMM) markets. METHOD: 750 cases false and inferior species from Hubei province were compared classifiedly. RESULTS: In recent ten years, distributive characteristics of false and inferior species from CMM markets is as follows. First, false and inferior species from prepared medicinal herb increase, so do with man-made adulteration and poisonous species. Second, false and inferior species increase in rural area, country fairs, individual clinics and medicine booths. Last, extracted products are sold and used as certified products. CONCLUSION: CMM country fairs, outlying rural area, individual clinics and private medicine booths are the center of further supervision hereafter.
Consumer Product Safety↗
[Study on the right cardiac structure and function in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome].
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome(OSAS) on the right cardiac structure and function. METHODS: The right cardiac structure and function were measured by using M-mode and two-dimension echocardiography in 30 OSAS patients. RESULTS: In moderate and severe OSAS groups, the right ventricular end diastolic volume (RVEDV), stroke volume (SV) and right pulmonary artery inner diameter (RPAD) increased markedly, and the E/A of the right ventricular decreased in the meantime as compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: OSAS not only effects the right cardiac structure, but also the right cardiac systolic and diastolic function.
Adult↗
Transcriptome analysis of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus): genes and expression profile from the brain.
Expressed sequence tag (EST) analysis was conducted using a complementary DNA (cDNA) library made from the brain mRNA of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). As part of our transcriptome analysis in catfish to develop molecular reagents for comparative functional genomics, here we report analysis of 1201 brain cDNA clones. Of the 1201 clones, 595 clones (49.5%) were identified as known genes by BLAST searches and 606 clones (50.5%) as unknown genes. The 595 clones of known gene products represent transcripts of 251 genes. These known genes were categorized into 15 groups according to their biological functions. The largest group of known genes was the genes involved in translational machinery (21.4%) followed by mitochondrial genes (6.2%), structural genes (3.1%), genes homologous to sequences of unknown functions (2.3%), enzymes (2.7%), hormone and regulatory proteins (2.5%), genes involved in immune systems (2.1%), genes involved in sorting, transport, and metal metabolism (1.8%), transcriptional factors and DNA repair proteins (1.6%), proto-oncogenes (1.2%), lipid binding proteins (1.2%), stress-induced genes (0.7%), genes homologous to human genes involved in mental diseases (0.6%), and development or differentiation-related genes (0.3%). The number of genes represented by the 606 clones of unknown genes is not known at present, but the high percentage of clones showing no homology to any known genes in the GenBank databases may indicate that a great number of novel genes exist in teleost brain.
Animals↗
An EPR investigation of persistent radicals from the photolysis of p, p'-dialkyl-substituted phenyl benzyl ketones adsorbed on MFI zeolites
The photolysis of isomeric pairs of p,p'-dialkyl-substituted phenyl benzyl ketones adsorbed on MFI zeolites has been investigated by EPR spectroscopy. Photolysis produces persistent "benzoyl type" and "benzyl type" radicals. The dominant persistent radical produced by photolysis of any particular isomeric pair depends on the length and position of the p-alkyl chain. The results are attributed to supramolecular stereoisomers resulting from preferential adsorption of the longer alkyl chain into the pores of the zeolite.
Journal Article↗
Protective effects of prenatal choline supplementation on seizure-induced memory impairment.
Choline is an essential nutrient for rats and humans, and its availability during fetal development has long-lasting cognitive effects (Blusztajn, 1998). We investigated the effects of prenatal choline supplementation on memory deficits associated with status epilepticus. Pregnant rats received a control or choline-supplemented diet during days 11-17 of gestation. Male offspring [postnatal day 29 (P29)-32] were tested for their ability to find a platform in a water maze before and after administration of a convulsant dose of pilocarpine at P34. There were no differences between groups in water maze performance before the seizure. One week after status epilepticus (P41-P44), animals that had received the control diet prenatally had a drastically impaired performance in the water maze during the 4 d testing period, whereas prenatally choline-supplemented rats showed no impairment. Neither the seizures nor the prenatal availability of choline had any effect on hippocampal choline acetyltransferase or acetylcholinesterase activities. This study demonstrates that prenatal choline supplementation can protect rats against memory deficits induced by status epilepticus.
Acetylcholinesterase↗
Diacylglycerol kinase zeta in hypothalamus interacts with long form leptin receptor. Relation to dietary fat and body weight regulation.
Leptin and its long form receptor, Ob-Rb, in hypothalamic nuclei play a key role in regulating energy balance. The mutation of Ob-Rb into one of its natural variants, Ob-Ra, results in severe obesity in rodents. We demonstrate here that diacylglycerol kinase zeta (DGKzeta) interacts, via its ankyrin repeats, with the cytoplasmic portion of Ob-Rb in yeast two-hybrid systems, in protein precipitation experiments in vitro and in vivo. It does not interact, however, with the short form, Ob-Ra, which mediates the entry of leptin into the brain. Furthermore, we show by in situ hybridization that DGKzeta is expressed in neurons of hypothalamic nuclei known to synthesize Ob-Rb and to participate in energy homeostasis. The mutant ob-/ob- and db-/db- mice exhibit increased hypothalamic DGKzeta mRNA level compared with their wild-type controls, suggesting a role for the leptin/OB-Rb system in regulating DGKzeta expression. Further experiments show that hypothalamic DGKzeta mRNA level is stimulated by the consumption of a high-fat diet. In addition, DGKzeta mRNA is statistically significantly lower in rats and inbred mice that become obese on a high-fat diet compared with their lean counterparts. In fact, it is strongly, negatively correlated with both body fat and circulating levels of leptin. Taken together, our evidence suggests that DGKzeta constitutes a downstream component of the leptin signaling pathway and that reduced hypothalamic DGKzeta mRNA, and possibly activity, is associated with obesity.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
LEUNIG, a putative transcriptional corepressor that regulates AGAMOUS expression during flower development.
Regulation of homeotic gene expression is critical for proper developmental patterns in both animals and plants. LEUNIG is a key regulator of the Arabidopsis floral homeotic gene AGAMOUS. Mutations in LEUNIG cause ectopic AGAMOUS mRNA expression in the outer two whorls of a flower, leading to homeotic transformations of floral organ identity as well as loss of floral organs. We isolated the LEUNIG gene by using a map-based approach and showed that LEUNIG encodes a glutamine-rich protein with seven WD repeats and is similar in motif structure to a class of functionally related transcriptional corepressors including Tup1 from yeast and Groucho from Drosophila. The nuclear localization of LEUNIG-GFP is consistent with a role of LEUNIG as a transcriptional regulator. The detection of LEUNIG mRNA in all floral whorls at the time of their inception suggests that the restricted activity of LEUNIG in the outer two floral whorls must depend on interactions with other spatially restricted factors or on posttranslational regulation. Our finding suggests that both animals and plants use similar repressor proteins to regulate critical developmental processes.
AGAMOUS Protein, Arabidopsis↗
Novel methods for the facile construction of 3,3-disubstituted and 3, 3-spiro-2H,4H-benzo[e]1,2-thiazine-1,1-diones: synthesis of (11S,12R, 14R)-2-fluoro-14-methyl-11-(methylethyl)spiro[4H-benzo[e]- 1, 2-thiazine-3,2'-cyclohexane]-1,1-dione, an agent for the electrophilic asymmetric fluorination of aryl ketone enolates.
Novel methods for the facile construction of 3,3-disubstituted and 3, 3-spiro 2H,4H-benzo[e][1,2]thiazine-1,1-diones 8a-h are described. o-Methyl lithiation of N-Boc-o-toluenesulfonamide 6 followed by reaction with a variety of ketones gave the corresponding carbinol sulfonamides 7a-g, which underwent cyclization under acidic (methanesulfonic acid) or neutral (NaI/TMSCl/MeCN) conditions to afford the sultams 8a-h in high yields. The chiral spiro sultams 8g, h were subjected to FClO(3) fluorination to give the N-fluorosultams 11a,b, respectively, which were tested for electrophilic asymmetric fluorination of aryl ketone enolates. As a result, the N-fluorosultam 11a exhibited modest asymmetric inducing abilities with the highest ee, reaching 70% for enantioselective fluorination of the lithium enolate of 2-methyl-1-tetralone.
Anti-Infective Agents↗
Synthesis, biological evaluation, and conformational analysis of A-ring diastereomers of 2-methyl-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) and their 20-epimers: unique activity profiles depending on the stereochemistry of the A-ring and at C-20.
All eight possible A-ring diastereomers of 2-methyl-1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (2) and 2-methyl-20-epi-1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (3) were convergently synthesized. The A-ring enyne synthons 19 were synthesized starting with methyl (S)-(+)- or (R)-(-)-3-hydroxy-2-methylpropionate (8). This was converted to the alcohol 14 as a 1:1 epimeric mixture in several steps. After having been separated by column chromatography, each isomer led to the requisite A-ring enyne synthons 19 again as 1:1 mixtures at C-1. Coupling of the resulting A-ring enynes 20a-h with the CD-ring portions 5a,b in the presence of a Pd catalyst afforded the 2-methyl analogues 2a-h and 3a-h in good yield. In this way, all possible A-ring diastereomers were synthesized. The synthesized analogues were biologically evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. The potency was highly dependent on the stereochemistry of each isomer. In particular, the alpha alpha beta-isomer 2g exhibited 4-fold higher potency than 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1) both in bovine thymus VDR binding and in elevation of rat serum calcium concentration and was twice as potent as the parent compound in HL-60 cell differentiation. Furthermore, its 20-epimer, that is, 20-epi-alpha alpha beta 3g, exhibited exceptionally high activities: 12-fold higher in VDR binding affinity, 7-fold higher in calcium mobilization, and 590-fold higher in HL-60 cell differentiation, as compared to 1 alpha,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) (1). Accordingly, the double modification of 2-methyl substitution and 20-epimerization resulted in unique activity profiles. Conformational analysis of the A-ring by (1)H NMR and an X-ray crystallographic analysis of the alpha alpha beta-isomer 2g are also described.
Animals↗
Regulation of the cell adhesion molecule CD44 after nerve transection and direct trauma to the mouse brain.
CD44 is a cell surface glycoprotein involved in cell adhesion during neurite outgrowth, leukocyte homing, and tumor metastasis. In the current study, we examined the regulation of this molecule 4 days after neural trauma in different forms of central and peripheral injury. Transection of the hypoglossal, vagus, or sciatic nerve led to the appearance of CD44-immunoreactivity (CD44-IR) on the surface of the affected motoneurons, their dendrites, and their axons. Fimbria fornix transection led to CD44-IR on a subpopulation of cholinergic neurons in the ipsi- and contralateral medial septum and diagonal band of Broca and colocalized with galanin-IR. Central projections of axotomized sensory neurons to the spinal cord (substantia gelatinosa, Clarke's column) also showed an increase in CD44-IR, which was abolished by spinal root transection. Nonneuronal CD44-IR was mainly restricted to sites of direct injury. In the crushed sciatic nerve, CD44-IR was found on the demyelinating Schwann cells and on infiltrating monocytes and granulocytes. Direct parasagittal transection of the cerebral cortex led to CD44-IR on resident astrocytes and on leukocytes entering the injured forebrain tissue. CD44-IR also increased on reactive retinal astrocytes and microglia after the optic nerve crush. Additional time points in the retina and hypoglossal nucleus (days 1, 2, and 14) and cerebral cortex (day 2) injury models also showed the same cell type pattern for the CD44-IR. Finally, polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed the posttraumatic expression of CD44 mRNA and detected only the standard haematopoietic CD44 splice isoform both in direct and indirect brain injury models. Overall, the current study shows the widespread, graded appearance of CD44-IR on neurons and on nonneuronal cells, depending on the form of neural injury. Here, the ability of CD44 to bind to a variety of extracellular matrix and cell adhesion proteins and its common presence in different forms of brain pathology could suggest an important role for this cell surface glycoprotein in the neuronal, glial, and leukocyte response to trauma and in the repair of the damaged nervous system.
Animals↗
Changing the donor cofactor of bovine alpha 1, 3-galactosyltransferase by fusion with UDP-galactose 4-epimerase. More efficient biocatalysis for synthesis of alpha-Gal epitopes.
Two fusion enzymes consisting of uridine diphosphogalactose 4-epimerase (UDP-galactose 4-epimerase, EC ) and alpha1, 3-galactosyltransferase (EC ) with an N-terminal His(6) tag and an intervening three-glycine linker were constructed by in-frame fusion of the Escherichia coli galE gene either to the 3' terminus (f1) or to the 5' terminus (f2) of a truncated bovine alpha1, 3-galactosyltransferase gene, respectively. Both fusion proteins were expressed in cell lysate as active, soluble forms as well as in inclusion bodies as improperly folded proteins. Both f1 and f2 were determined to be homodimers, based on a single band observed at about 67 kDa in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and on a single peak with a molecular mass around 140 kDa determined by gel filtration chromatography for each of the enzymes. Without altering the acceptor specificity of the transferase, the fusion with the epimerase changed the donor requirement of alpha1, 3-galactosyltransferase from UDP-galactose to UDP-glucose and decreased the cost for the synthesis of biomedically important Galalpha1,3Gal-terminated oligosaccharides by more than 40-fold. For enzymatic synthesis of Galalpha1,3Galbeta1,4Glc from UDP-glucose and lactose, the genetically fused enzymes f1 and f2 exhibited kinetic advantages with overall reaction rates that were 300 and 50%, respectively, higher than that of the system containing equal amounts of epimerase and galactosyltransferase. These results indicated that the active sites of the epimerase and the transferase in fusion enzymes were in proximity. The kinetic parameters suggested a random mechanism for the substrate binding of the alpha1, 3-galactosyltransferase. This work demonstrated a general approach that fusion of a glycosyltransferase with an epimerase can change the required but expensive sugar nucleotide to a less expensive one.
Animals↗
The ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway in heart vs skeletal muscle: effects of acute diabetes.
The ubiquitin-proteasome system is thought to play a major role in normal muscle protein turnover and to contribute to diabetes-induced protein wasting in skeletal muscle. However, its importance in cardiac muscle is not clear. We measured heart muscle mRNA for ubiquitin and for the C2 and C8 proteasomal subunits, the amount of free ubiquitin and the proteasome chymotrypsin-like proteolytic activity in control and diabetic rats. Results were compared to those in skeletal muscle (rectus). Heart ubiquitin, C2 and C8 subunit mRNA and proteolytic activity were significantly greater than in skeletal muscle (P </= 0.05). This suggests that the ubiquitin proteasomal pathway may also be important for normal heart muscle turnover. Diabetes increased ubiquitin mRNA by approximately 50% in heart (P < 0.03) and by approximately 100% in skeletal muscle (P < 0.005). It remained high after 3 days of insulin treatment in both tissues. C2 and C8 subunit mRNA did not change with diabetes or insulin treatment. Diabetes did not change the amount of free ubiquitin or the proteasomal (lactacystin-inhibitable) chymotrypsin-like peptidase activity in heart or skeletal muscle. In conclusions, gene expression for several components of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway is significantly higher in cardiac than in skeletal muscle, as is the proteasome chymotrypsin-like peptidase activity. Diabetes increases the expression of ubiquitin but not C2 or C8 subunit mRNA, nor does it significantly alter the amount of free ubiquitin or the proteasome chymotrypsin-like peptidase activity. The rate-limiting step of enhanced protein degradation in diabetic rat heart and skeletal muscle may be located at ubiquitin conjugation and/or its binding to proteasome, not at the ubiquitin availability or the proteasome itself.
Acute Disease↗