Effects of the plant alkaloid thaliblastine on non-cross-resistant and sensitive human leukemia cells in relation with reversal of acquired anthracycline resistance

Thaliblastine exhibits dose dependent cytotoxic effect on HL-60, HL-60/DOX, RHE and HD-MY-2 leukemia cells. Additionally, typical for apoptosis oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation could be detected in leukemia cells treated with thaliblastine. Moreover, an MDR-phenotype reversing effect of thaliblastine was also identified.     

Sources of variation in nutrient intakes among men in Shanghai, China

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Random errors, from any source, will attenuate epidemiological risk estimates. Before we launched the Shanghai Men's Health Study (SMHS), a large population-based cohort study investigating the diet-cancer association among Chinese men, a dietary calibration study was conducted among 96 men aged 40-75 years (mean age 56.5 years), with biweekly 24-hour dietary recalls (24HDRs) implemented over a 1-year period. Data from this study were analysed to evaluate the nature and magnitude of variances for intake of 26 nutrients among SMHS participants, to compare variance ratios of 26 nutrients among Chinese men and women and individuals in other studies, and to estimate the number of 24HDRs required for future dietary calibration studies in similar populations. DESIGN: Ninety-six healthy, free-living men in Shanghai were administered biweekly 24HDR interviews 24 times over a 1-year period. To assess between-individual and within-individual contributions to variance, a mixed effects model was fitted and ratios of within-individual to between-individual (sigma(w)(2)/sigma(b)(2)) dietary intake variances were computed. SETTING: Shanghai, China. RESULTS: In agreement with reports from studies conducted in the USA and many other countries, we found that within-individual variances were usually larger than between-individual variances in dietary intake for all nutrients. The sum of all other variation (e.g. weekday and weekend, seasonal, interviewer) accounted for less than 5% of total variation. Ratios of within- to between-individual variances (for log-transformed data) ranged from 1.25 for carbohydrate intake to near 8 for delta-tocopherol intake. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that among middle-aged and elderly Chinese men in Shanghai, within- and between-individual variation account for more than 95% of the total variation for 26 nutrients. Further dietary validation studies in the same population could be adequately carried out with only 12 days of dietary recalls, if 100 participants were enrolled.     

Comparison of cardioprotective abilities between the flesh and skin of grapes

Recent studies have documented that grapes and grape juices are equally cardioprotective as red wine. The existing reports implicate that the skin and seeds of the grapes containing polyphenolic antioxidants are instrumental for the cardioprotective properties of grapes. The present study examines if the flesh of grapes also possesses any cardioprotective abilities. Three groups of randomly selected rats were fed, water only (control), flesh of the grapes (2.5 mg/kg b. wt.) or the skins (2.5 mg/kg b. wt.) for 30 days. At the end of the 30 days, isolated perfused hearts were made ischemic for 30 min followed by 2 h of reperfusion in the working mode. The results demonstrated that both flesh and skin of the grapes could protect the hearts from ischemic reperfusion injury as evidenced by improved postischemic ventricular recovery and reduced myocardial infarct size. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) revealed that skin and flesh contained comparative amounts of glucose, fructose, tartaric acid, malic acid, shikimic acid, and trans-caftaric acid. In addition, the flesh contained reduced amounts (compared to skin) of cis-coutaric, trans-coutaric, caffeic, p-coumaric, cinnamics, and catechin/epicatechin. Total polyphenolic index was also lower in flesh compared to skin. The anthocyanins were present exclusively in the skin. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometry of hydroxy radicals indicated that both flesh and skins possessed equal amount of ROS scavenging activities. Total malonaldehyde content in the heart was reduced comparatively with either flesh or skin. The results indicate for the first time that the flesh of grapes are equally cardioprotective as skin, and antioxidant potential of skin and flesh of grapes are comparable with each other despite of the fact that flesh does not possess any anthocyanin activities.     

Does white wine qualify for French paradox? Comparison of the cardioprotective effects of red and white wines and their constituents: resveratrol, tyrosol, and hydroxytyrosol

It is generally believed that the French paradox is related to the consumption of red wine and not other varieties of wine, including white wine or champagne. Some recent studies have indicated that white wine could also be as cardioprotective as red wine. The present investigation compares the cardioprotective abilities of red wine, white wine, and their principal cardioprotective constituents. Different groups of rats were gavaged with red wine, white wine, resveratrol, tyrosol, and hydroxytyrosol. Red wine and its constituent resveratrol and white wine and its constituents tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol all showed different degrees of cardioprotection as evidenced by their abilities to improve postischemic ventricular performance, reduce myocardial infarct size and cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and reduce peroxide formation. It was discovered in this study that although each of the wines and their components increased the enzymatic activities of the mitochondrial complex (I-IV) and citrate synthase, which play very important roles in oxidative phosphorylation and ATP synthesis, some of the groups were more complex-specific in inducing the activity compared to the other groups. Cardioprotective ability was further confirmed by increased expression of phospho-Akt, Bcl-2, eNOS, iNOS, COX-1, COX-2, Trx-1, Trx-2, and HO-1. The results of this study suggest that white wine can provide cardioprotection similar to red wine if it is rich in tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol.     

A community-based telephone survey of work and injuries in teenage agricultural workers

In order to estimate the one-year cumulative incidence of work-related injuries in teenage agricultural workers and to characterize the patterns and types of agricultural work performed by teenagers, we performed a community-based random-digit dialing telephone survey. We used a sampling frame of farm and non-farm households to access information on teenage agricultural workers. An agricultural community in eastern Washington State was selected due to the high number of teenage youth and its agricultural economy. Teenage agricultural workers who worked for an agricultural business owned by one of their family members were more likely to work a greater number of seasons, work fewer hours per week, perform tasks involving driving, animal care, and mechanic work, and were less likely to be seasonal workers or work in the harvest than teenagers who did not work for a family member. A similar pattern of work differences was seen when comparing non-Hispanic to Hispanic agricultural workers. Teenagers working for a family member in agriculture had a higher injury rate than teenagers working for an agricultural business not owned by a family member. The injury rate among Hispanic teenage agricultural workers was also higher than that of non-Hispanics.     

Total Polyphenols,Antioxidant and Antiproliferative Activities of Different Extracts in Mungbean Seeds and Sprouts

The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the biological, alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and antiproliferative activities of different extracts of mungbean seeds and sprouts. All extracts from the sprouts showed higher contents of total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF), and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity than from seeds. The highest DPPH and tyrosinase inhibition activities were registered in ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extract. ADH activity of methanol (MeOH), n-hexane (n-hexane) and n-butanol (n-BuOH) extracts from sprouts was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than from seeds. However, the highest ADH activity was found in water extract of seeds. According to 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol -2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) (MTT) assay, extracts from sprouts were more effective against Calu-6 (human pulmonary carcinoma) and SNU-601 (human gastric carcinoma) cells than from seeds. EtOAc extract showed the highest antiproliferative activity in both sprouts and seeds, followed by n-hexane extraction. During sprouting of mungbean, all the studied components significantly increased. In conclusion, the extracts of sprouts are more effective than from seeds and could be a potential source of antioxidants linked with health benefits.     

番茄质膜H+-ATPase家族基因的鉴定和表达分析

植物质膜H+-ATPase（Ec3.6.1.3）是一类普遍存在于细胞质膜上通过水解三磷酸腺苷（ATP）产生能量,将细胞质中的氢离子（H+）逆浓度泵出细胞的运输蛋白。植物中的质膜H+-ATPase由一个多基因家族所编码,其功能涉及到植物生长发育的多个生理过程。通过对全基因组检索在茄科Solanaceae植物番茄Solanum lycopersicum中共鉴定到8个编码质膜H+-ATPase的同源基因（LHA1~8）。生物信息学分析显示:这8个LHA基因具有较高的序列相似性和较为保守的外显子/内含子结构特征。实时荧光定量聚合酶链式反应（qRT-PCR）分析显示,LHA1~4在所有被检测的组织器官中都有表达,LHA5~7几乎只在花器官中高量表达,而LHA8在正常培养和养分（氮、磷、钾和镁）缺乏以及高盐胁迫处理条件下几乎都不表达,但能够在被菌根真菌侵染的根系中强烈表达。将一段2 669 bp的LHA8的启动子融合GUS报告基因转入到烟草Nicotiana tabacum中发现,GUS基因几乎只在被菌根真菌菌丝侵入形成丛枝的根系细胞中特异性表达。图 5 表 2 参22     

果实比重大小对番石榴采后贮藏的影响

两个番石榴品种(“Allahabad Safeda”和“Sardar”)果实按比重大小分成三组:Ⅰ组、Ⅱ组和Ⅲ组(比重分别为<1.00、1.00—1.02>1.02).两品种的Ⅰ组果最大、维生素C含量最高,合格率也较高,果实箱装贮藏寿命为6天.Ⅱ组果箱装贮藏寿命为8天.Ⅲ组果最小,成熟度也比Ⅰ、Ⅱ组果相对差,果色欠佳,营养质量低劣,特别是维生素C含量不高.“Sardar”品种的三组果无论大小、合格程度或维生素C含量均优于“Allahabad Safeda”品种.     

国家家禽测定中心(北京)对罗曼褐蛋鸡生产性能测定的结果和分析

2001年5月27日,将来自不同鸡场的三个组合的罗曼商品代种蛋送国家家禽测定中心(北京)进行蛋鸡生产性能的测定,2002年11月4日测定结束,并将资料汇总,现将主要的生产性能测定的结果和饲养要求提供给大家,供参考。1测定时间种蛋孵化时间为2001年5月27日到2001年6月17日。育雏育成期(0～17周龄)为2001年6月17日到2001年10月15日。18周龄转群。产蛋期测定时间为2001年10月23日到2002年11月4日。2测定项目测定项目有:种蛋受精率、孵化率、0～18周龄成活率、18周龄体重、达到50%产蛋率的日龄、19～72周龄入舍鸡及饲养日产蛋数、产蛋总重、平均蛋重…