Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Bing Zhang.
The article gives a detailed introduction of the process of marking flat tube needle for vas deferens puncture and a brief explanation of its application. This kind of tube needle can be easily made of readily available material, convenient to be cleaned and sterilized, with high success rate of puncturing and good effect. Other tube needles can be made by imitating it.
An hpa1 gene was cloned into an expression vector, pET30a(+), from the genomic DNA of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines (Xag), the causal agent of soybean bacterial pustule, with degenerated primers by polymerase amplification reaction (PCR). The gene product was extracted from the conjugate (BHR-3) of BL21 (DES) with the recombined vector pHR3 after the engineering strain was induced by IPTG in LB medium. The SDS-PAGE gel showed that the gene product was 15.1kD. The product was heat-stable (10 min at 100 degrees C), protease K sensitive, and able to trigger hypersensitive response (HR) in common tobacco, but was unable to elicit HR in NahG transgenic tobacco in which salicylic acid accumulation was abolished. Moreover, the HR elicitation of the protein in tobacco was dispelled by eukayotic metabolic inhibitors, actinomycin D, cycloheximide and LaCl3. The 402 bp hpa1 gene in this study putatively encoded a 133 ammonia acid protein of which glycine (G) was rich with 21.1%. Sequence comparison indicated that the hpa1 gene and its protein was 51.4% - 93.8% identity with those of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae and other Xanthomonas species and pathovars. Alignments of harpin proteins of Xanthomonas genus displayed that the glycine-rich region with GGG-GG motif was variable. The comparison also showed that the harpin-encoding gene of Xag (nominated here as hpa1(Xag)) did not possess any similarity with that of Erwinia amylovora, Pseudomonas syringae and Ralstonia solanacearum at nucleotide and protein levels. It is concluded that hpa1(Xag) gene encodes an harpin protein which elicits a typical HR in nonhost tobacco.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the role of step-test on large sample surveillance in students' physical fitness and health. METHODS: Totally, 36 237 students aged 12-, 14- and 17-year-old from fifteen Chinese provinces taking part in the 2004th National Surveillance on Students' Physical Fitness and Health were enrolled in this study. All of them passed through the step-test, of which the indices were calculated in combining with the performance time and pulse rates in resuming period. The means of step-test index were analyzed among various youth groups, and compared with the obesity, overweight and the normal-weight subjects. RESULTS: As compared with the general level of physical growth, the means of step-test index were found higher in rural groups than in urban ones, and higher in southern groups than in northern ones. The highest means of index was found in the rural groups in having the lowest socioeconomic status, and also the lowest means found in metropolis groups having the highest socioeconomic status. These gaps were due to the change of life style, absence of physical exercise and relatively to the high body weight of the high socioeconomic-level groups. Among the obesity, overweight and normal-weight youths, the means of step-test index was shown in a gradient decrease tendency, and those significant gaps might be found between the obesity and the overweight, and the overweight and the normal-weight groups, showing that there should be harmful influences of overweight and obesity on the youth's cardiovascular function. CONCLUSION: As a safe and easily-taken measure for cardiovascular function, the step-test should be useful in regularly measuring the national students' physical fitness and health status.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the secular changes of physical growth in 7-17 year old students of Zang-tribe in Tibet during 1965-2004, and to make suggestions for further improvement. METHODS: The data collected by local government in 1965 and Chinese national survey on students' physical fitness and health in 1985, 1995 and 2004 were used to analyze and find out the differences from the students' stature, body weight, chest girth, and BMI in different years, and to compare the increasing rate per 10 years in different periods of time. RESULTS: Levels on stature, body weight and chest girth were increased significantly among 7-17 year-old students of Zang-tribe in Tibet during 1965-2004. From 1965 to 1985, the levels of stature and body weight were increased 11.4 cm and 5.0 kg respectively among male Zang-tribe students, 9.1 cm and 3.9 kg among the female. During 1985-2004, stature levels of Zang-tribe students was kept rising in much less extent, while average levels of body weight were reaching up remarkably, especially in 1995-2004, in which the average increasing rate per 10 years had achieved 14.8% and 13.4% among the male and female students aged 7-17 years old respectively. Levels of chest girth were increased rapidly in 1965-1985, showing a higher increasing rate in male students (2.7%) than in female students (1.9%). In 1985-2004, the increasing rates fell obviously both in male and female students, but there existed a higher rate in 1995-2004 than in 1995-1985, especially for females (4.0%). Upon the secular changes of stature and body weight, the levels of BMI were decreased in 1985 as comparing to those in 1965, then increased rapidly in 1985-2004, especially in 1995-2004, having an increasing rate up to 12.6% and 12.4% respectively in male and female students. CONCLUSION: Secular changes on physical growth among 7-17 year-old students of Zang-tribe in Tibet were paralleled with the economic progress in 1965-2004, giving active effects by economic progress and nutrition improvements to the physical growth of children and adolescents.
OBJECTIVE: To analyze the motor performance status in students of Han nationality in fifteen provinces in china. METHODS: Totally, 161 804 students of Han nationality aged from 7 to 18 years old were involved in the Chinese Surveillance on Students' Physical Fitness and Health in 2004. Motor abilities were accessed with the aid of gripping power, 50 m dash, standing long jump, and 1-min sit-ups. Based on general statistical description, principal component analysis and linear regression, the development characters of students' motor performance were explored. RESULTS: This research showed some characters similar to those of last ones: motor capability was improved in correlation with age; boys did better than girls, the difference between 18 year-old rural boys and rural girls was 15.3 kg, -2.0 s, 58.6 cm, 8.7/min; the urban students performed better than the rural ones, the difference between 15 year-old urban boys and rural boys was 0.9 kg, -0.2 s, 3.5 cm, 3.5/min. The first principal component might represent the 4 tests greatly. Regression analysis on principal component quantitatively interpreted the influence of factors such as age, sex and area. CONCLUSIONS: The general principles of exercise quality development of students are still in work. Principal component analysis should be adequate and convenient in motor performance analysis.
The current concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) were determined in soils contaminated with Chinese technical product sodium pentachlorophenate (Na-PCP). The estimated half-life of octachlorodioxin (OCDD) was about 14 years in contaminated soils based on the local historical record and mass balance calculation during the past 43 years (1960-2003). The isomer profiles remained the same regardless of paddy field soil or riverbank soil. The results indicated that the congener-specific information was efficient in estimating the PCDD/Fs fate in contaminated soils.
Recent epidemiologic studies have suggested that genetic polymorphisms in the cytochrome P-450 1A1 gene (CYP1A1) may affect the relation between environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and breast cancer risk. The authors report results from a case-control study evaluating the potential effect of gene-environment interaction between CYP1A1 and serum PCB levels on breast cancer risk among Caucasian women in Connecticut. The study included 374 case women with histologically confirmed breast cancer and 406 noncancerous controls with information on both serum PCB level and CYP1A1 genotype (1999-2002). Compared with women who had the homozygous wild-type CYP1A1 m2 genotype, significantly increased risks of breast cancer were found for women with the CYP1A1 m2 variant genotype (odds ratio (OR) = 2.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1, 3.9), especially postmenopausal women (OR = 2.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.0). Risks associated with the CYP1A1 m2 variant genotype were highest for all women (OR = 3.6, 95% CI: 1.5, 8.2) and postmenopausal women (OR = 4.3, 95% CI: 1.6, 12.0) with higher serum PCB levels (611-2,600 ng/g). The CYP1A1 m1 and m4 genotypes were not associated with breast cancer risk independently or in combination with PCB exposure. In summary, the CYP1A1 m2 genetic polymorphism was associated with increased risk of female breast cancer and may modify the relation between PCB exposure and breast cancer risk.
The most common form of human autosomal dominant hereditary spastic paraplegia (AD-HSP) is caused by mutations in the SPG4 (spastin) gene, which encodes an AAA ATPase closely related in sequence to the microtubule-severing protein Katanin. Patients with AD-HSP exhibit degeneration of the distal regions of the longest axons in the spinal cord. Loss-of-function mutations in the Drosophila spastin gene produce larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) phenotypes. NMJ synaptic boutons in spastin mutants are more numerous and more clustered than in wild-type, and transmitter release is impaired. spastin-null adult flies have severe movement defects. They do not fly or jump, they climb poorly, and they have short lifespans. spastin hypomorphs have weaker behavioral phenotypes. Overexpression of Spastin erases the muscle microtubule network. This gain-of-function phenotype is consistent with the hypothesis that Spastin has microtubule-severing activity, and implies that spastin loss-of-function mutants should have an increased number of microtubules. Surprisingly, however, we observed the opposite phenotype: in spastin-null mutants, there are fewer microtubule bundles within the NMJ, especially in its distal boutons. The Drosophila NMJ is a glutamatergic synapse that resembles excitatory synapses in the mammalian spinal cord, so the reduction of organized presynaptic microtubules that we observe in spastin mutants may be relevant to an understanding of human Spastin's role in maintenance of axon terminals in the spinal cord.
Several recent studies have suggested a potential role of menstrual and reproductive factors in the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. To further examine the relation, the authors analyzed data from a population-based case-control study of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in Connecticut women between 1996 and 2000. A total of 601 histologically confirmed cases and 717 randomly selected population-based controls were included in this study. An in-person interview was conducted using a standardized and structured questionnaire to collect information on menstrual and reproductive factors and potential confounding factors. Compared with nulliparous women, women who had four or more pregnancies during their lifetime were found to have a significantly reduced risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (odds ratio (OR) = 0.6, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.4, 0.9). Risk appeared to decrease with increasing number of pregnancies (p(trend) = 0.03). The authors also observed an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma overall (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.0, 2.2) and of diffuse non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (OR = 1.7, 95% CI: 1.1, 2.7) for women who started their first menstrual period at age 15 or more years compared with those who started their first menstrual period before age 12 years. These findings support a reduced risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma associated with multiple pregnancies and an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma associated with later age at menarche.
Single-crystal mullite nanobelts were prepared by a simple sol-gel method using WO3 as a catalyst. The nanobelts are straight and uniform with a width of 200 nm and length of 3-4 microm.
The incidence and mortality rates of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have been increasing worldwide. Allogeneic blood transfusion has been suggested as a risk factor for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but the results from epidemiologic studies have been inconsistent. Data from a population-based case-control study of Connecticut women were analyzed to evaluate this relation. A total of 601 histologically confirmed, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma incident cases identified between 1996 and 2000 and 717 randomly selected controls were included in this study. Allogeneic blood transfusion was not associated with the increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma overall (odds ratio = 1.0, 95% confidence interval: 0.7, 1.3) or by subtype of the disease. The risk also did not vary by number of allogeneic blood transfusions, age at first transfusion, or time since first transfusion. When the reason for blood transfusion was considered, an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was found only for allogeneic blood transfusion for reason of anemia. In summary, the authors' findings do not support the hypothesis that allogeneic blood transfusion increases the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
BACKGROUND: Although lentiviral vectors have been widely used for in vitro and in vivo gene therapy researches, there have been few studies systematically examining various conditions that may affect the determination of the number of viable vector particles in a vector preparation and the use of Multiplicity of Infection (MOI) as a parameter for the prediction of gene transfer events. METHODS: Lentiviral vectors encoding a marker gene were packaged and supernatants concentrated. The number of viable vector particles was determined by in vitro transduction and fluorescent microscopy and FACs analyses. Various factors that may affect the transduction process, such as vector inoculum volume, target cell number and type, vector decay, variable vector - target cell contact and adsorption periods were studied. MOI between 0-32 was assessed on commonly used cell lines as well as a new cell line. RESULTS: We demonstrated that the resulting values of lentiviral vector titre varied with changes of conditions in the transduction process, including inoculum volume of the vector, the type and number of target cells, vector stability and the length of period of the vector adsorption to target cells. Vector inoculum and the number of target cells determine the frequencies of gene transfer event, although not proportionally. Vector exposure time to target cells also influenced transduction results. Varying these parameters resulted in a greater than 50-fold differences in the vector titre from the same vector stock. Commonly used cell lines in vector titration were less sensitive to lentiviral vector-mediated gene transfer than a new cell line, FRL 19. Within 0-32 of MOI used transducing four different cell lines, the higher the MOI applied, the higher the efficiency of gene transfer obtained. CONCLUSION: Several variables in the transduction process affected in in vitro vector titration and resulted in vastly different values from the same vector stock, thus complicating the use of MOI for predicting gene transfer events. Commonly used target cell lines underestimated vector titre. However, within a certain range of MOI, it is possible that, if strictly controlled conditions are observed in the vector titration process, including the use of a sensitive cell line, such as FRL 19 for vector titration, lentivector-mediated gene transfer events could be predicted.
A new polymeric copper complex, viz. catena-poly[[[mu-N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)oxamidato-kappa6N,N',O:N",N"',O']dicopper(II)]-di-mu-dicyanamido-1:1'kappa2N1:N5;2:2'kappa2N1:N5], [Cu2(C8H16N4O2)(C2N3)2]n or [Cu(oxpn)0.5[N(CN)2]]n [where H2oxpn is N,N'-bis(3-aminopropyl)oxamide], has been synthesized by the reaction of Cu(oxpn), [Cu(ClO4)2].6H2O and NaN3. In the crystal structure, the Cu atom is five-coordinate and has a square-pyrimidal (SP) configuration. In the polymer, dicyanamide (dca-) groups link CuII cations in a mu-1,5-bridging mode, generating novel ladders in which each step is composed of dimeric [Cu2(oxpn)]2+ cations. Abundant hydrogen bonds connect the polymer ladders into a two-dimensional network structure.
AIM: To investigate the influence of autologous cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells on the phenotypes of CIK effector cells, peripheral T lymphocyte subsets and dendritic cell subsets in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were collected by a blood cell separator from 13 patients with HCC, then expanded by priming them with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) followed by monoclonal antibody (mAb) against CD3 and interleukin-2 (IL-2) the next day. The phenotypic patterns of CIK cells were characterized by flow cytometry on d 0, 4, 7, 10, 13 and 15 of incubation, respectively. Then, 5 mL of venous blood was obtained from HCC patients before or 8-10 d after CIK cells were transfused into patients to assess the influence of CIK cells on the percentages of effector cells, and proportions of DC1 or DC2 in peripheral blood by flow cytometry. RESULTS: After two weeks of in vitro incubation, the percentages of CD3(+)CD8(+), CD3(+)CD56(+), and CD25(+) cells increased significantly from 33.5+/-10.1%, 7.7+/-2.8%, and 12.3+/-4.5% to 36.6+/-9.0% (P<0.05), 18.9+/-6.9% (P<0.01), and 16.4+/-5.9% (P<0.05), respectively. However, the percentages of CD3(+)CD4(+) and NK cells had no significant difference. The percentages of CD3(+) and CD3(+)CD8(+) cells were kept at high levels during the whole incubation period, but those of CD25(+), and CD3(+)CD56(+) cells began to decrease on d 7 and 13, respectively. The proportions of type I dendritic cell (DC1) and type II dendritic cell (DC2) subsets increased from 0.59+/-0.23% and 0.26+/-0.12% before CIK cell therapy to 0.85+/-0.27% and 0.43+/-0.19% (all P<0.01) after CIK cell transfusion, respectively. The symptoms and characteristics of HCC patients were relieved without major side effects. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that autologous CIK cells can efficiently improve the immunological status in HCC patients, and may provide a potent approach for HCC patients as the adoptive immunotherapy.
A population-based case-control study (601 cases and 717 controls) was conducted in 1995-2001 among Connecticut women to evaluate the relation between diet and nutrient intakes and the risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). When the highest quartile of intake was compared with the lowest, the authors found an increased risk of NHL associated with animal protein (odds ratio = 1.7, 95% confidence interval: 1.2, 2.4) and saturated fat (odds ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 2.3) but a reduced risk for polyunsaturated fat (odds ratio = 0.6, 95% confidence interval: 0.4, 0.9) and no relation for vegetable protein and monounsaturated fat. An increased risk was also observed for higher intakes of retinol, eggs, and dairy products. On the other hand, a reduced risk was found for higher intakes of dietary fiber and for several fruit and vegetable items. Risk of NHL associated with diet and nutrient intakes appeared to vary based on NHL subtype. An association between dietary intake and NHL risk is biologically plausible because diets high in protein and fat may lead to altered immunocompetence, resulting in an increased risk of NHL. The antioxidant or inhibiting nitrosation reaction properties of vegetables and fruits may result in a reduced risk. Further investigation of the role of dietary intakes on the risk of NHL is warranted.
BACKGROUND: Microarray and other high-throughput technologies are producing large sets of interesting genes that are difficult to analyze directly. Bioinformatics tools are needed to interpret the functional information in the gene sets. RESULTS: We have created a web-based tool for data analysis and data visualization for sets of genes called GOTree Machine (GOTM). This tool was originally intended to analyze sets of co-regulated genes identified from microarray analysis but is adaptable for use with other gene sets from other high-throughput analyses. GOTree Machine generates a GOTree, a tree-like structure to navigate the Gene Ontology Directed Acyclic Graph for input gene sets. This system provides user friendly data navigation and visualization. Statistical analysis helps users to identify the most important Gene Ontology categories for the input gene sets and suggests biological areas that warrant further study. GOTree Machine is available online at http://genereg.ornl.gov/gotm/. CONCLUSION: GOTree Machine has a broad application in functional genomic, proteomic and other high-throughput methods that generate large sets of interesting genes; its primary purpose is to help users sort for interesting patterns in gene sets.
All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) affects cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis through its receptors, RARs and RXRs. Besides these, other receptors such as orphan receptor TR3, are also involved in the regulatory process of ATRA. However, how different receptors function in response to ATRA is still largely unknown. In the present study, we found that formation of TR3/RXRalpha heterodimers in the nucleus and their subsequent translocation into the cytoplasm, in association with regulation of apoptosis-related proteins Bcl-2, Bcl-xl and Bax, was critical for apoptosis induction by ATRA in breast cancer cells MCF-7. When such translocation was blocked by Leptomycin B (LMB), ATRA-induced apoptosis was consequently abolished. However, in ATRA-induced gastric cancer cells MGC80-3, RXRalpha heterodimerised with RARalpha but not with TR3, and remained in the nucleus exerting its effect on cell cycle regulation. When transfected with antisense-RARalpha, MGC80-3 cells changed from ATRA-sensitive to ATRA-resistant and most cells were arrested in the S phase, implying the importance of RARalpha in cell cycle regulation. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the effects of ATRA depend on the relative levels of TR3, RARalpha and RXRalpha expression in cancer cells. In ATRA-induced MCF-7 cells, highly expressed TR3 favours the formation of TR3/RXRalpha and promotes the TR3/RXRalpha signalling pathway causing apoptosis; while in ATRA-induced MGC80-3 cells, high expression of RARalpha favours the formation of RARalpha/RXRalpha and promotes the RXRalpha/RARalpha signalling pathway in mediating cell cycle regulation. In conclusion, these results reveal the novel mechanism that cellular expression and location of protein is associated with diverse signalling transduction pathways and the resultant physiological process.
Since pig is an important livestock species worldwide, its gene expression has been investigated intensively, but rarely in brain. In order to study gene expression profiles in the pig central nervous system, we sequenced and analyzed 43,122 high-quality 5' end expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from porcine cerebellum, cortex cerebrum, and brain stem cDNA libraries, involving several different prenatal and postnatal developmental stages. The initial ESTs were assembled into 16,101 clusters and compared to protein and nucleic acid databases in GenBank. Of these sequences, 30.6% clusters matched protein databases and represented function known sequences; 75.1% had significant hits to nucleic acid databases and partial represented known function; 73.3% matched known porcine ESTs; and 21.5% had no matches to any known sequences in GenBank. We used the categories defined by the Gene Ontology to survey gene expression in the porcine brain.