Explore the vast range of titles available.

The formation of phytoene by condensing two geranylgeranyl diphosphate molecules catalyzed by phytoene synthase (PSY) is the first committed and rate-limiting step in carotenoid biosynthesis, which has been extensively investigated in bacteria, land plants and microalgae. However, this step in macroalgae remains unknown. In the present study, a gene encoding putative phytoene synthase was cloned from the economic red alga Pyropia yezoensis—a species that has long been used in food and pharmaceuticals. The conservative motifs/domains and the tertiary structure predicted using bioinformatic tools suggested that the cloned PyPSY should encode a phytoene synthase; this was empirically confirmed by pigment complementation in E. coli. This phytoene synthase was encoded by a single copy gene, whose expression was presumably regulated by many factors. The phylogenetic relationship of PSYs from different organisms suggested that red algae are probably the progeny of primary endosymbiosis and plastid donors of secondary endosymbiosis.

Both sodium alginate and polyethyleneimine (PEI) have a good ability to adsorb heavy metal ions. PEI and sodium alginate were used as important precursors to synthesize positively charged carbon nanoparticles (p-CNDs) with hydroxyl and carboxyl, and negatively charged carbon nanoparticles (n-CNDs) with amino, respectively. The carbon nanoparticles (CNDs) aerogel with a large specific surface area and rich functional groups were constructed by self-assembled p-CNDs and n-CNDs via electrostatic attraction for adsorption of heavy metal ions in water. The results show that CNDs aerogel has good adsorption properties for Pb2+ (96%), Cu2+ (91%), Co2+ (86%), Ni2+ (82%), and Cd2+ (78%). Furthermore, the fluorescence emission intensity of CNDs aerogel will gradually decrease with the increase in the adsorption rate, indicating that it can detect the adsorption process synchronously. In addition, the cytotoxicity test reveals that CNDs have good biocompatibility and will not cause secondary damage to biological cells.

Thermal properties of acrylonitrile (AN)-acrylamide (AM) copolymers for carbon fibers were studied by DSC and in situ FTIR techniques in nitrogen (N2) and air flows. The cyclization mechanism and stabilization behavior of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) were discussed. In N2 flow, it was found that AM had the ability to initiate and accelerate cyclization process, which was confirmed by the fact that the initiation of nitriles shifted to a lower temperature. Compared to AN homopolymer, the initiation temperature of cyclization was ahead 32 K by introducing 3.59 mol% AM into the copolymer. The exothermic reaction was relaxed due to the presence of two separated exothermic peaks. Accompanied by DSC, in situ FTIR and calculation of activation energy, the two peaks were proved to be caused by ionic cyclization and free radical cyclization, respectively, and the corresponding cyclization mechanism was proposed. With increasing in AM content, the ionic cyclization tends to be dominant and the total heat liberated first increases and then decreases. For AN homopolymer, the activation energy of cyclization is 179 kJ/mol. For AN-AM copolymer (containing 3.59 mol% AM), the activation energy of ionic cyclization is 96 kJ/mol and that of free radical cyclization is 338 kJ/mol. In air flow, similar cyclization routes occur and the difference is the contribution of oxidation. The oxygen in environment has no remarkable effect on cyclization of AN homopolymer but retards the cyclization of AN-AM copolymers. For AN-AM copolymer with 3.59 mol% AM, the cyclization temperature is postponed 10°C in air.

Thermal degradation and stabilization of two kinds of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers have been investigated by a combination of FT-IR, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), modulated DSC, thermogravimetry (TG), thermal shrinkage behavior, in situ mass spectrometry (MS), and tensile property examinations. The two types of precursor fibers exhibit distinct properties after oxidative stabilization, but they can both make carbon fibers with equivalent mechanical properties. Compared with PAN/itaconic acid precursor fibers, the fibers containing acrylamide comonomers show a doublet appearance, broader exothermic peak, lower threshold degradation temperature, and more amount of heat evolved in DSC thermogram, which is favorable to obtain uniform microstructures in oxidative stabilization process. The two types of samples produce different ring structures in the thermal degradation and stabilization process, as evidenced by results from tensile test, TG–MS and thermal shrinkage behavior analyses. In addition, the molecular rearrangement or melting of ordered structures accompanying with nitrile polymerization was also detected from modulated DSC.

The coating modification of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers with boric acid to enhance the controllability of thermally oxidative stabilization process. The stabilization process, cross-section morphologies of oxidized and carbonized products were investigated by means of optical microscopy, SEM, XPS and in-situ thermal shrinkage indicator. The results indicated that the coating with boric acid on fiber surface was effective to avoid skin-core heterogeneity on the cross section and, in the stabilization process, that boric acid as a crosslinking agent to tie together the adjacent oxidative molecular chains was confirmed. It was suggested that the crosslinked structures should play an essential role in controlling the formation of uniform oxidized structures, which is favorable for tensile properties of carbon fibers.

Carbon foams with pore sizes of 10–50 μm were prepared with mesophase pitch and toluene as the carbonaceous precursor and supercritical agent, respectively. Results revealed that the light pitch components and dissolved toluene in pitch significantly affected the pore structures of resultant carbon foams. The amount of toluene dissolved in molten pitch is greatly dependent on the foaming conditions, such as the ratio of toluene to pitch, foaming temperature, foaming pressure and saturation time. Carbon foams with hierarchical porous structures are obtained by controlling the amount of light pitch components.

ObjectiveTo investigate the serum protein targets of Qianggu Decoction (强骨饮, QGD) on treating osteoporosis by the proteomics analysis using tandem mass tag (TMT) and liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).MethodsTwenty serum protein samples were recruited (10 patients with primary type I osteoporosis before and after QGD treatment) and the high abundance ratios protein was removed, two serum samples were extracted and labeled with TMT reagent. Then, mass spectrometric detection, identification of differentially expressed proteins and bioinformatics analysis of differentially expressed proteins were carried out.ResultsA total of 60 proteins were identified, within a 99% confidence interval, to be differentially regulated of which, 34 proteins were up-regulated and 26 proteins were down-regulated. Differentially expressed proteins analyzed by Gene Ontology (GO) annotation mainly get involved in 12 different biological processes, 7 types of cellular components, and 6 kinds of molecular functions. Angiotensinogen (AGT), stromelysin-1 (MMP3), heparanase (HPSE) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) were screened as candidate protein targets of QGD treatment, which were related to metabolic mechanism of bone remodeling and/or bone collagen of osteoporosis. By the utilization of the protein-protein interaction network analysis tool named STRING10.0, it showed that AGT, MMP3, HPSE and GAPDH were located in the key node of the protein-protein interactions network. Furthermore, AGT, MMP3, HPSE and GAPDH were found to be directly related to BMP, MAPK, Wnt, SMAD and tumor necrosis factor ligand superfamily member 11 (TNFSF11) families.ConclusionsThe proteomics analysis by using TMT combined with LC-MS/MS was a feasible method for screening the potential therapeutic targets associated with QGD treatment. It suggests that AGT, MMP3, HPSE and GAPDH may be candidate protein targets of QGD treatment which can be used as therapeutic effect monitor and early diagnosis of primary type I osteoporosis.

Dear Editor, We present here a rare case that an infertile man had gynecomastia for 8 years, which might be caused by a novel mutation （c. 728 T 〉 G） found in the transactivation domain （TAD） of androgen receptor （AR） gene.

Dicer1 is an enzyme essential for microRNA （miRNA） maturation. The loss of miRNAs resulted from Dicer1 deficiency greatly contributes to the progression of many diseases, including lipid dysregulation, but its role in hepatic accumulation of free cholesterol （FC） that is critical in the development of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis （NASH） remains elusive, In this study, we used the liver-specific Dicerl-knockout mice to identify the miRNAs involved in hepatic FC accumulation. In a widely used dietary NASH model, mice were fed a methionine-choline-deficient （MCD） diet for 3 weeks, which resulted in significant increase in hepatic FC levels as well as decrease of Dicer1 mRNA levels in livers. The liver-specific Dicerl-knockout induced hepatic FC accumulation at 5-6 weeks, accompanied by increased mRNA and protein levels of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase （HMGCR）, a rate-limiting enzyme of cholesterol synthesis in livers. Eleven predicted miRNAs were screened, revealing that miR-29a/b/c significantly suppressed HMGCR expression by targeting the HMGCR mRNA 3＇-UTR. Overexpression of miR-29a in SMMC-7721 cells, a steatosis hepatic cell model, significantly decreased HMGCR expression and the FC level. Furthermore, the expression levels of miR-29a were inversely correlated with HMGCR expression levels in the MCD diet mouse model in vivo and in 2 steatosis hepatic cell models （SMMC-7721 and HL-7702 cells） in vitro. Our results show that Dicer1/miR-29/HMGCR axis contributes to hepatic free cholesterol accumulation in mouse NASH, and miR-29 may serve as an important regulator of hepatic cholesterol homeostasis. Thus, miR-29a could be utilized as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease as well as for other liver diseases associated with FC accumulation.

Background： Drug is all important cause of liver injury and accounts for up to 40% of instances offidminant hepatic failure. Drug-induced liver injury （DILl） is increasing while the diagnosis becomes more difficult. Though many drugs may cause DILl, Chinese herbal medicines have recently emerged as a major cause due to their extensive use in China. We aimed to provide drug safety information to patients and health carets by analyzing the clinical and pathological characteristics of the DILl and the associated drug types. Methods： A retrospective analysis was conducted in 287 patients diagnosed with DILl enrolled in our hospital from January 2011 to December 2015. The categories of causative drugs, clinical and pathological characteristics were reviewed. Results： Western medicines ranked as the top cause of DILl, accounting for 163 out of the 287 DILl patients （56.79%） in our study. Among the Western medicine, antituberculosis drugs were the highest cause （18.47%, 53 patients） of DILl. Antibiotics （18 patients, 6.27%） and antithyroid （18 patients, 6.27%） drugs also ranked among the major causes of DILl. Chinese herbal medicines are another major cause of DILl, accounting for 36.59% of cases （105 patients）. Most of the causative Chinese herbal medicines were those used to treat osteopathy, arthropathy, dermatosis, gastropathy, leukotrichia, alopecia, and gynecologic diseases. Hepatocellular hepatitis was prevalent in DILl, regardless of Chinese herbal medicine or Western medicine-induced DILI. Conclusions： Risks and the rational use of medicines should be made clear to reduce the occurrence of DILl. For patients with liver injury of unknown origin, liver tissue pathological examination is recommended for further diagnosis.