Impact of gamma radiation and salinity on growth and K^＋/Na^＋ balance in two populations of Medicago sativa （L.） cultivar Gabbs

The perennial Medicago sativa cv. Gabes is widely grown on saline soils in Tunisian oases. Morphological and physiological analyses of two populations （Mareth and Gannouch） were conducted in order to study the effect of salinity and gamma radiation （350 Gy） interaction on two populations of this species. It has been shown that the two irradiated populations of Medicago sativa are fairly tolerant to salt at growth phase compared to the non-irradiated. Exposure to gamma irradiation （350 Gy）, alone or in combination with salt stress, increased significantly （p 〈 0.001） shoot number, stem height and chlorophyll b pigment especially for the Gannouch population, while no change occurred for the Mareth population. The presence of salt to 9 g/1 affected significantly the root biomass and induced a reduction of shoot development of both control and irradiated alfalfa populations. For all treatments, plants of two populations remained able to produce and to allocate dry matter to the different organs. The survey of Na^＋/K^＋ ratio showed that the growth of the aerial organs of two non-irradiated populations was at least determined by a selectivity in favour of the K^＋ ions （r^2 = 0.97 and r^2 = 0.59 for Mareth and Gannouch non-irradiated populations, respectively）. However, the rather weak correlation detected for the irradiated populations, particularly for the irradiated Gannouch, seems to be the consequence of the effect of irradiation that improved potassium availability, essential element for growth and development. Results also showed that the two irradiated populations, especially the Mareth, accumulated Na^＋ ions in its photosynthetic organs. This accumulation was associated with an improvement of foliar water content at a level of salinity around 5 g/1. Such a mechanism reflects probably an inclusive behaviour of the plants and a good aptitude to use the dominant ions （Na^＋） for the osmotic adjustment. However, the non-irradiated populations are unable to adjust their internal os     

Cellular mechanism of cardiac alternans： an unresolved chicken or egg problem

T-wave alternans, a specific form of cardiac alternans, has been associated with the increased suscep- tibility to cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death （SCD）. Plenty of evidence has related cardiac alternans at the tissue level to the instability of voltage kinetics or Ca^2＋ handling dynamics at the cellular level. However, to date, none of the existing experiments could identify the exact cellular mechanism of cardiac alternans due to the bi-directional coupling between voltage kinetics and Ca^2＋ handling dynamics. Either of these systems could be the origin of alternans and the other follows as a secondary change, therefore making the cellular mechanism of alternans a difficult chicken or egg problem. In this context, theoretical analysis combined with experimental techniques provides a possibility to explore this problem. In this review, we will summarize the experimental and theoretical advances in understanding the cellular mechanism of alternans. We focus on the roles of action potential duration （APD） restitution and Ca^2＋ handling dynamics in the genesis of alternans and show how the theoretical analysis combined with experimental techniques has provided us a new insight into the cellular mechanism of alternans. We also discuss the possible reasons of increased propensity for alternans in heart failure （HF） and the new possible therapeutic targets. Finally, according to the level of electrophysiological recording techniques and theoretical strategies, we list some critical experimental or theoretical challenges which may help to determine the origin of alternans and to find more effective therapeutic tar- gets in the future.     

Theoretic study of the reaction mechanism between （Me）3CO· radical and trans-3-hexene

The reaction mechanism between （Me）3CO· radical and trans-3-hexene in benzene was studied for the first time at the B3LYP/6-311＋＋G（d,p）//B3LYP/6-31G（d）＋ZPVE level. Two distinct elementary channels were identified as： （1） abstraction-addition; （2） addition-addition-elimination. Analysis of the potential energy surface demonstrates that for the title reaction, channels （1） and （2） have the major and minor contribution, respectively. Our calculated results can well explain the recently observed product distribution by Coseri et al. （J. Org. Chem. 2005, 70, 4629）. However, we found that the addition-abstraction channel proposed by Coseri et al. is kinetically infeasible.     

Study on the effect of doxorubicin on expressions of genes encoding myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca^2＋ transport proteins and the effect of taurine on myocardial protection in rabbits

To investigate the effect of doxorubicin(DOX) on gene expression of the myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR)Ca^2 transport proteins and the mechanism of taurine(Tau) protecting cardiac muscle cells, 9 rabbits were injected with DOX , 8 rabbits with DOX and Tau, and 9 rabbits with normal saline. Cardiac function , concentration of calcium in cardiomyocytes ( Myo [ Ca^2 ]i ), activity of SR Ca^2 -ATPase (SERCA2a) , level of SERCA2a mRNA and Ca^2 released channels(RYR2) mRNA were detected. The left ventricle tissues were observed by electron microscopy. The results showed that cardiac index, left ventricular systolic pressure, activity of SR Ca^2 -ATPase and level of SERCA2a mRNA decreased , while Myo[ Ca^2 ]i increased in DOX-treated rabbits. DOX could not affect the level of RYR2 mRNA. Tau intervention could alleviate the increase of left ventricular diastolic pressure, Myo[ Ca^2 ] i and the decrease of SERCA2a mRNA induced by doxorubicin. Tile results suggested that downregulation of SERCA2a gene expression was an important mechanism of DOX-induced cardiomyopathy and that Tau could partially improve the heart function by reducing calcium overload and alleviating downregulation of SERCA2a mRNA.     

An experimental study on the self-adaption mechanism used by evolutionary programming

Evolutionary programming （EP） is one of the most important methods for numerical optimization. Its main technique is the combination of mutations and the self-adaption mechanism. In the past years, studies on EP focused on how to improve the efficiency of mutations with different probability distributions, and few of them touched on the question that the self-adaption mechanism did not work sometimes, but simply followed the original suggestion. So far, no experimental results have shown why this is a question. This paper firstly gives a primary analysis on the behavior of the self-adaption mechanism, and then presents experimental evidences to show why its adaptive ability is doubtful.     

Distribution of lanthanum among the chloroplast subcomponents of spinach and its biological effects on photosynthesis： location of the lanthanum binding sites in photosystem Ⅱ

The effects of lanthanum at different concentrations on the related photosynthetic activities of Hill reaction, Mg^2＋-ATPase and Ca^2＋-ATPase in spinach chloroplast were studied. Experimental results showed that lanthanum can increase all the activities at suitable concentration （15-30 mg· L^-1）, however, it behaves toxically on them when over used （60 mg. L^-1）. To get an improved understanding of the mechanism of lanthanum effects on the photosynthesis of spinach, the different subcomponents in the chloroplast of the cultured spinach were isolated, and the content of lanthanum in each subcomponent was determined by ICP-MS. The results obtained indicated that among these different subcomponents, about 90% out of the total chloroplast lanthanum was located in photosystem Ⅱ （PS Ⅱ） while there was little lanthanum in photosystem Ⅰ （PS Ⅰ）. Moreover, size exclusion high performance liquid chromatography （SE-HPLC） coupled with online UV and ICP-MS detections was novelly used for locating lanthanum binding sites in PS Ⅱ proteins for the first time. It was found that lanthanum has two binding sites in PS Ⅱ： La associates with chlorophyll together with magnesium in PS Ⅱ by partly replacing magnesium and also shares the common binding sites of PS Ⅱ proteins together with the inorganic cofactors of calcium and manganese, influencing the process of photosynthesis.     

Oscillating chemiluminescence in rhodamine B-induced Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction catalyzed by Ce（IV）

It was found that rhodamine B could induce oscillating chemiluminescence （OCL） from the Ce4＋-catalyzed Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction. This new OCL system, i.e., rhodamine B-malonic acid-bromate- Ce（IV）-sulfuric acid, exhibited two clearly distinguished emission peaks in each oscillation period. The initial concentrations of the reactants strongly influenced the oscillation pattern. For the study of the CL mechanism, a platform for a versatile and simultaneous potential and CL measurement was estab- lished to compare the potential oscillation with the CL oscillation behavior of this system. The CL spectra, UV-visible absorption spectra and time-resolved fluorescence spectra of this OCL system were studied. A possible, simplified mechanism for the OCL is proposed. It is suggested that the generation of the two CL peaks is likely due to the oxidation of the intermediate of rhodamine B by Ce（IV） and Br2, respectively. This work provided a new method and platform to research the complex chemical oscilla- tions.     

Characteristics of Pb<Superscript>2+</Superscript> biosorption with aerobic granular biomass

Experimental studies were conducted on the feasibility of aerobic granular biomass as a novel type of biosorbent for Pb^2＋ removal. The results show that the initial pH, Pb^2＋ concentration （Co） and biomass concentration （X0） affected the biosorption process significantly. Both the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models describe the biosorption process accurately, with correlation coefficients of 0.932 and 0.959 respectively. The Pb^2＋ biosorpUon kinetics is interpreted as having two stages, with the second stage described reasonably well by a Lagergren pseudo-second order model. Moreover, the surface change of granular biomass after the Pb^2＋ biosorption process appears to be caused by ion exchange and metal chelation according to the analysis results of Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy （ESEM） and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy （EDX）.     

Rearrangements of microtubule cytoskeleton in stomatal closure of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis</Emphasis> induced by nitric oxide

NO （nitric oxide）, known as a key signal molecule in plant, plays important roles in regulation of stomatal movement. In this study, microtubule dynamics and its possible mechanism in the NO signal pathway were investigated. The results were as follows： （i） In vivo stomatsl aperture assays revealed that both vinblastine （microtubule-disrupUng drug） and SNP （exogenous NO donor） prevented stomatsl opening in the light, and vinblastine even could enhance the inhibitory effect of SNP, whereas tsxol （a microtubule-stsbilizing agent） was able to reduce this effect; （ii） microtubules in the opening Arabi-dopsis guard cells expressing GFP：a-tubulin-6 （AtGFP：a-tubulin-6） were organized in parallel, straight and dense bundles, radiating from the ventral side to the dorsal side, and most of them were localized perpendicularly to the ventral wall; （iii） under the same environmental conditions, treated with SNP for 30 min, the radial arrays of microtubules in guard cells began to break down, twisted partially and be- came oblique or exhibited a random pattern; （iv） furthermore, the involvement of cytosolic Ca^2＋ in this event was tested. Stomatal aperture assays revealed that BAPTA-AM （a chelator of Ca^2＋） greatly suppressed the effect of NO on stomatal closure; however, it did not show the same function on stomatal closure induced by vinblastine. When BAPTA-AM was added to the SNP-pretreated solution, the SNP-induced disordered microtubulue cytoskeleton in guard cells underwent rearrangement in a time-dependent manner. After 30 min of treatment with BAPTA-AM, the cortical microtubules resumed the original radial distribution, almost the same as the control. All this indicates that NO may promote rearrangement of microtubule cytoskeleton via elevation of [Ca^2＋]cyt （free Ca^2＋ concentration in the cytoplasm）, finally leading to stomatsl closure.     

Heat and hyposmotic stimulation increase in [Ca^2＋]i by Ca^2＋ influx in rat synoviocytes

Rheumatoid arthritis （RA）, which is marked by inflammatory synovitis, is a common, chronic autoimmune-disease, whose pathogenesis is complex and still unclear. In order to explore the effects of heat and hyposmotic stimuli on synoviocytes in rheumatoid arthritis, the changes of [Ca^2＋]i induced by heat, hyposmotic and 4α-PDD stimuli were observed in synoviocytes. [Ca^2＋]i elevation induced by heat 28℃, hyposmotic and 4α-PDD stimuli is found to be positively relative to increasing temperature, decreasing osmolality and rising concentration of 4α-PDD. Results show that there is reciprocity among these stimuli and desensitization, and that [Ca^2＋]i elevation depends on Ca^2＋ influx, but not necessarily links to Ca^2＋ release from intracellular stores and voltage-dependent Ca^2＋ channel in synoviocytes. The above characteristics of Ca^2＋ influx are similar to those of TRPV4. A probable mechanism has been suggested that heat and hyposmotic stimulation might increase the level of [Ca^2＋]i by activating the TRPV4-like channel and Ca^2＋ influx in the synoviocytes.     

HERG1 K+ channels on the leukemic cells mediated angiogenesis in vitro

Human ether-a-go-go-related gene （HERG1） K^＋ channels are overexpressed in leukemia, which contributes to neoangiogene- sis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of HERG1 K^＋ channels on leukemia angiogenesis. We cultured human umbili- cal vein endothelial cells （HUVECs） in conditioned media, which were derived from leukemic cells with or without E-4031, a HERG1 K^＋ channel special inhibitor. The HUVECs proliferation was mea- sured using CCK-8 assay and migration by a Trans-well. Endothelial tube formation was investigated using Matrigel. Vascular endothelial growth factor （VEGF） levels were tested by ELISA and VEGF mRNA expression using RT-PCR. Our results revealed that blocking HERG1 K^＋ channels could inhibit leukemia-induced HUVECs pro- liferation, migration, and tube formation in vitro. The results sug- gested that HERG1 K~ channels could increase leukemia angio- genesis. Furthermore, blockage of HERG1 K^＋ channels could also decrease leukemic cells secreting VEGF and expressing VEGF mRNA. HERG1 K^＋ channels have a promoting effect on leukemia angiogenesis, and the possible mechanism may be that HERG1 K^＋ channels enhance VEGF expression. Thus, HERG1 K4 channel is a potential target of antiangiogenesis in leukemia.     

Studies on biomechanics of skeletal muscle based on the working mechanism of myosin motors: An overview

Skeletal muscle is the source of human body motion.Many scholars have been studying in this field to reveal its contraction mechanism,and relevant achievements have been awarded the Nobel Prize.This paper reviewed the current researches on biomechanics of skeletal muscle,and concluded two strategies(top-down and bottom-up methods) for the biomechanical research of skeletal muscle.Moreover,this paper generalized two major aspects of muscle research:(1) the multi-force coupling mechanism and the collective operation mechanism of molecular motors;(2) the bioelectrochemical driving and control principium of muscle contraction.We discussed the solution for experimental verification and induced a novel idea to study the biomechanics of skeletal muscle based on the microscopic working mechanism of molecular motor,which is the origin of muscle contraction.Finally we analyzed the disadvantages in existent researches and explored future directions that need further studies.     

Ammonia borane at high pressures

Ammonia borane has received tremendous research attention in the past decade because of its potential for chemical hydrogen storage. This paper reviews recent studies about the behavior of ammonia borane at high pressures. While much work is still needed to comprehensively understand the pressure influence on this molecular crystal, a phase diagram based on the available experimental and theoretical data is constructed. Raman spectroscopy studies indicate five transitions upon compression up to 65 GPa at ambient temperature. Diffraction experiments and theoretical studies demonstrate that three of these transitions are first-order phase transformations in the sequence of I4mm-Cmc21-P21-（different） P21, and two are iso-structural. A low-temperature phase（Pmn21） and a high-temperature high-pressure phase（Pmna） are also recognized.     

Two forms of the membrane-bound state of the first C2 domain (C2A) of synaptotagminⅠand calcium-triggered membrane insertion

The synaptic vesicle protein synaptotagmin I(syt I) is a vesicle transmembrane protein present in synaptic vesicles, which has been proposed as the Ca^2 sensor that regulates secretion. The C2A domain is the membrane proximal part of its cytoplasmic domain. The interaction between C2A and lipid bilayer has been considered to be essential for triggering neurotransmitter release. In the present work, the measurements of membrane surface tension and surface concentration showed that the C2A domain of syt I exhibited two membrane-bound states: the surface adsorption state and the membrane insertion state. The surface absorption state formed in a Ca2~-independent manner with lower affinity, while the membrane insertion state formed with high affinity was only found in the presence of Ca^2 . Both the Ca^2 -independent and Ca^2 -dependent syt I membrane interactions required anionic phospholipids, such as phosphatidylserine (PS). When expressed into rat pheo-chromocytoma (PC12) cells and human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) cells, as demonstrated by immunofluorescence staining and subcellular fractionation, most of the C2A was found at the plasma membrane, even when the cells weredepleted of Ca^2 by incubation with EGTA. These resultssuggested a new molecular mechanism of syt I as a Ca^2 sensor in membrane fusion. Ca^2 -independent surface adsorption might attach syt I to the release site during the docking or priming step. When intracellular Ca^2 increased,syt I triggered the neurotransmitter release following the Ca^2 -dependent penetration into the target membrane.     

Differential expression analysis and regulatory network reconstruction for genes associated with muscle growth and adipose deposition in obese and lean pigs

During the growth and development of skeletal muscle cells and adipose cells, the regulatory mechanism of micro-effect polygenes determines porcine meat quality, carcass characteristics and other relative quantitative traits. Obese and lean type pig breeds show obvious differences in muscle growth and adipose deposition; however, the molecular mechanism underlying this phenotypic variation remains unknown. We used pathway-focused oligo microarray studies to examine the expression changes of 140 genes associated with muscle growth and adipose deposition in longissimus dorsi muscle at six growth stages （birth, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 months） of Landrace （a leaner, Western breed） and Taihu pigs （a fatty, indigenous, Chinese breed）. Variance analysis （ANOVA） revealed that differences in the expression of 18 genes in Landrace pigs and three genes in Taihu pigs were very significant （FDR-adjusted permutation, P 〈 0.01） and differences for 22 genes in Landrace pigs and seven genes in Taihu pigs were significant （FDR-adjusted permutation, P 〈 0.05） among six growth stages. Clustering analysis revealed a high level of significance （FDR-adjusted, P 〈 0.01） for four gene expression patterns, in which genes that strongly up-regulated were mainly associated with the positive regulation of myofiber formation and fatty acid biogenesis and genes that strongly down-regulated were mainly associated with the inhibition of cell proliferation and positive regulation of fatty acid β-oxidation. Based on a dynamic Bayesian network （DBN） model, gene regulatory networks （GRNs） were reconstructed from time-series data for each pig breed. These two GRNs initially revealed the distinct differences in physiological and biochemical aspects of muscle growth and adipose deposition between the two pig breeds; from these results, some potential key genes could be identified. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR （QRT-PCR） was used to verify the microarray data for five modulated genes, and a good correlation between     

A dynamic model of calcium signaling in mast cells and LTC4 release induced by mechanical stimuli

Mast cells （MCs） play an important role in theimmune system. It is known that mechanical stimuli caninduce intracellular Ca2＋ signal and release a variety ofmediators, including leukotriene C4 （LTC4）, leading toother cellular and physiological changes. In this paper, wepresent a mathematical model to explore signalling path-ways in MCs, by including cellular mechanisms for intra-cellular Ca2＋ increase and LTC4 release in response tomechanical stimuli, thapsigargin （TG, SERCA pumpinhibitor）, and LTC4 stimuli. We show that （i） mechanicalstimuli activate mechano-sensitive ion channels and induceinward ion fluxes and Ca2＋ entry which increases intra-cellular Ca2＋ concentration and releases LTC4; （ii） TGinhibits SERCA pumps, empties the internal Ca2＋ stores,which activates Ca2＋ release-activated Ca2＋ channels andresults in sustained intracellular Ca2＋ increase; and （iii）LTC4 activates receptors on MCs surface and increasesintracellular Ca2＋ concentration. Our results are consistentwith experimental observations, and furthermore, they alsoreveal that mechanical stimuli can increase intracellularCa2＋ even when LTC4 release is blocked, which suggests afeed forward loop involved in LTC4 production. This studymay facilitate our understanding of the mechanotransduc-tion process in MCs and provide a useful modeling tool forquantitatively analyzing immune mechanisms involvingMCs.     

Label-free selective sensing of Pb2＋ lead（II） sensors based on the aggregation of a pyrene fluorescent probe

In the present work, we report a label-free fluo- rescence turn-on approach for the sensitive and selective sensing of Pb2＋. Pyrene with one positive charge was used as the fluorescent probe, and thrombin aptamer （TBA）, which was a G-rich oligonucleotide, was employed to form G-quadruplex with lead（II）. When TBA and Pb2＋ were mixed with lead（II） in an aqueous solution, it was folded into a stable G-quadruplex. Subsequently, a single-stranded nucleic acid-specific nuclease S1 was added. The G-quad- ruplex stabilized by Pb2＋ lead（II） had markedly a significant resistant ability to nuclease S1 digestion. However, in the absence of Pb2＋ lead（II）, no quadruplex or less stable quadruplex was formed and TBA was digested by nuclease S1 in 3 min under the optimized experimental conditions. Finally, pyrene probe was Pb2＋ lead（II）. Electrostatic mixed with oligonucleotide in interactions between oligonu- cleotide （a polyanion） and the probe induced the aggregation of the probe, which in turn produced strong emission of the strong pyrene excimer emission. The intensity of the induced excimer emission was directly proportional to the amount of Pb2＋ added. Our approach shows good selectivity and sen- sitivity for the detection of Pb2＋ with a limit of detection limit as low as 800 nmol/L.     

Synthesis and Application of a Polymeric Crosslinking Agent for Improving Fixation of Vinylsulfone-type Dyes on Cotton by a Pad-drycure Process

A new class of novel polymeric crosslinging agent （NPCA）, which contained silane coupling group and the epoxy groups, was designed and synthesized in our laboratory. NPCA was a non-formaldehyde multifunctional crosslinking polymer. The cotton fabrics dyed with 8.0% （owf） Vinylsulpone-type dyes were treated with 3.0%- 4.0% NPCA, 0.5 mol/L potassium thiocyanate as a catalyst, then padded through two dips and two nips to reach a wet pickup of 80%- 85%, then dried at 80℃ for 2 minutes and cured in oven at 140- 150℃ for 3 minutes. Crocking fastness and fixation （%） were improved with up to 1.0 -1. 5 units, 35%- 50%, respectively. And there was little difference between the color yield of dyed fabrics before and after the treatment at certain conditions. The possible crosslinking mechanism of NPCA was also investigated. It was concluded that NPCA can improve colorfastness of cotton fabric by means of the three-dimensional network, covalent bonding and other molecular forces.