Red fluorescent proteins (RFPs) produced from a number of Anthozoa species have been subjected to a series of in vitro molecular evolution, resulting in various emission spectra ranging from 570 nm to 655 nm and thus providing powerful tools for cellular imaging or even body imaging. This article briefly reviewed the optical properties, structures and mutagenesis of RFPs and their applications.

Objective To explore the relationship between the variation of leptin receptor (LR) gene and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity and plasma lipid levels. Methods The variation of LR gene exon 20 was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and their relations to type 2 DM and obesity were analyzed. Results The variant frequency at 3 057 nucleotide of G to A transversion was 82.09% for total, 87.33% for DM group, 75.42% for control group. The frequency of AA genotype in DM cases was higher than that in controls, but that of GA genotype was lower, and that of GG in cases did not indicate. According to BMI and WHR level, there was no obvious relationship between gene variations and obesity. There were significant differences between AA genotype and GA genotype about the serum levels of TG, HDL and SBP, DBP. Conclusion At nucleotide 3 057 in LR exon 20, a G to A transversion was found, which may be the susceptibility marker of DM in Chongqing population. An allele was associated with high blood lipid and increased blood pressure.

Objective To evaluate the predictive value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and hemoglobinto-white blood cell ratio (HWR) prior to treatment in prognosis of non-operative esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients.Methods From October 2009 to November 2014,a total of 362 non-operative ESCC patients were enrolled in this prospective study.x2 test was used to analyze the relationship between NLR,HWR and general clinical features;Univariate and multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to evaluate the association between variables and prognosis of non-operative ESCC patients.Results The optimal cutoff level of 1.23 for NLR and 24.92 for HWR were identified by X-title software.x2 test indicated NLR was significantly associated with gender,tumor length,T stage,TNM stage and fasting blood glucose level.Moreover,univariate and multivariate analyses showed that high NLR and high HWR were all associated with a poor prognosis in non-operative ESCC.However,when patients were specifically stratified by treatment modus,subset analysis showed that NLR was only predictive of prognosis in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy group (HR =4.080,95％ CI:1.074-15.497,P =0.039),whereas the influence of HWR on prognosis was just existed in the sequential chemoradiotherapy group (HR =2.625,95％ CI:1.311-5.254,P =0.006).Conclusions In this investigation,we found that high NLR and high HWR were associated with poor prognosis in non-operative ESCC.

Objective To explore the relationship between Wuyishan cliff tea and esophageal cancer,and make integrated measures to prevent and control esophageal cancer.Methods A case-control study was conducted with a ratio of 1 to 1 and a health survey was conducted on objects which included 92 cases with histologically confirmed diagnoses of squamous-cell carcinoma of the esophagus and 92 controls matched by age,sex and resident.The analysis method of conditional logistic regression was used to analyze the influence of cliff tea on the development of esophageal cancer. Results The frequency of cliff tea drinking was 73.91% in cases with esophageal cancer compared with 84.78% in controls. As compared with subjects without tea drinking,subjects with cliff tea drinking significantly decreased the risk for developing esophageal cancer (P<0.05),and its OR were 0.60.The risk of esophageal cancer significantly reduced with increasing frequency of cliff tea drinking per week. Furthermore, we also found that the risk of esophageal cancer significantly reduced with the duration of cliff tea drinking and the early of beginning to drink cliff tea.Conclusion Wuyishan cliff tea drinking may protect against the risk of esophageal cancer.

Objective:To investigate the potential association between FADS1 rs1 74537 polymorphism and serum proteins in patients with aggressive periodontitis,which may provide benefits for diagnosis and treatment of aggressive periodontitis.Methods:A total of 353 patients with aggressive periodontitis (group AgP)and 1 25 matched controls (group HP)were recruited in the study.Genotyping of FADS1 rs1 74537 and serum biochemical indexes were tested at the study’s start.The relationships between the levels of TP,GLB,ALB,A/G and genotyping were analyzed.Results:(1 )The detection rate of allele G in group AgP was higher than that in group HP(68.1% vs.61 .2%,P=0.046,OR=1 .35,95% CI 1 .00-1 .83 );the detection rate of genotype GG in group AgP was higher than in group HP(45 .5%vs. 34.4%,P=0.029,OR=1 .60,95%CI 1 .05 -2.44).(2)In group AgP,the patients with GG geno-type exhibited significantly lower TP,GLB than the patients with GT+TT genotype [(77.08 ±7.88)g/L vs.(79.00 ±4.66)g/L,P=0.007;(28.1 7 ±7.63)g/L vs.(29.88 ±3.49)g/L,P=0.007)and the higher A/G(1 .72 ±0.22 vs.1 .67 ±0.22,P=0.040),but there was no significant difference in ALB between the patients with GG genotype and the patients with GT+TT genotype.In group HP,there were no significant differences in TP,GLB,A/G and ALB between individuals with genotype GT+TT and with genotype GG.(3 )Compared with individuals with genotype GT+TT in group HP,the AgP pa-tients with genotype GT +TT exhibited significantly higher TP,GLB [(79.00 ±4.66 ) g/L vs. (75.20 ±4.53)g/L,P<0.01;(29.88 ±3.49)g/L vs.(26.55 ±2.94)g/L,P<0.01 )and the lo-wer A/G(1 .67 ±0.22 vs.1 .88 ±0.30,P<0.01 ),but there was no significant difference in ALB. There were no significant differences in TP,GLB,A/G and ALB the between the AgP patients with ge-notype GG and the healthy subjects with the same genotype either.Conclusion:FADS1 rs1 74537 poly-morphism is associated with aggressive periodontitis.The patients with genotype GG in group AgP had relatively lower TP,GLB and higher A/G.Genotype GG might be a risk indicator for aggressive periodon-titis by reducing host defense capability and contributing to inflammatory response in the occurrence and development of aggressive periodontitis.