Objective　To investigate the expression of IGF-1 and TGF-β1 at different stages of hypertension in the spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and their relationship with ventricular hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis in the left ventricle. Methods　The expression of IGF-1 and TGF-β1 mRNA were measured with RT-PCR. Dynamic changes of the left ventricular hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis were examined by biochemical assay and image analysis. Results　Increased expression of IGF-1 was observed from the 14 th to the 24 th week which coincided with the progress of the left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), but not with that of myocardial fibrosis (MF). No significant change was observed in the expression of TGF-β1 in SHR group when compared with that of control. Conclusion　Increased expression of IGF-1 in the left ventricle of SHR is probably associated with the progress of LVH.

With the implementation of the strategies for the development of our country through science and education and talents, and of the"211 and 985 projects", there has been a more substantial increase in the scientific and technological strength and international competitiveness of research universities, reflected in the year-by-year increase in the number and total funding of research projects taken up by universities, and in the output results. All the achievements rely on the increasing investment of the government in the fields of science and technology and on hard-working scholars and students who devote themselves to scientific research, as well as the prospective planning and scientific decision making of leaders, and the concerted efforts, standard management and guiding service of the administrative departments. In the present paper the important role of the president's office of a university in ensuring that research work can be running smoothly is explored through analysis on the assistant role of the president's office of Peking University Health Science Center, and its practice in the provision of service-oriented management and promotion of the innovation and development of scientific research by close cooperation with the research management department and integrated coordination of all the individual administrative departments.

Heme, which exists widely in living organisms, is a porphyrin compound with a variety of physiological functions. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens is an important industrial strain with the characteristics of easy cultivation and strong ability for expression and secretion of proteins. In order to screen the optimal starting strain for heme synthesis, the laboratory preserved strains were screened with and without addition of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA). There was no significant difference in the heme production of strains BA, BAΔ6 and BAΔ6ΔsigF. However, upon addition of ALA, the heme titer and specific heme production of strain BAΔ6ΔsigF were the highest, reaching 200.77 μmol/L and 615.70 μmol/(L·g DCW), respectively. Subsequently, the hemX gene (encoding the cytochrome assembly protein HemX) of strain BAΔ6ΔsigF was knocked out to explore its role in heme synthesis. It was found that the fermentation broth of the knockout strain turned red, while the growth was not significantly affected. The highest ALA concentration in flask fermentation reached 82.13 mg/L at 12 h, which was slightly higher than that of the control 75.11 mg/L. When ALA was not added, the heme titer and specific heme production were 1.99 times and 1.45 times that of the control, respectively. After adding ALA, the heme titer and specific heme production were 2.08 times and 1.72 times higher than that of the control, respectively. Real-time quantitative fluorescent PCR showed that the expressions of hemA, hemL, hemB, hemC, hemD, and hemQ genes at transcription level were up-regulated. We demonstrated that deletion of hemX gene can improve the production of heme, which may facilitate future development of heme-producing strain.
Gene Deletion ; Bacillus amyloliquefaciens/metabolism* ; Aminolevulinic Acid/metabolism* ; Heme/metabolism* ; Fermentation