Deconstruction of lignocellulosic plant cell walls to fermentable sugars by biochemical means is impeded by several poorly understood ultrastructural and chemical barriers. Pretreatment is an essential step by altering the morphological and compositional characteristics of biomass to enhance the sugar release during enzymatic hydrolysis. Therefore, getting insight into this field is necessary to improve the conversion of biomass into biofuels. In this review, we highlight our recent understanding on the impact of various promising pretreatments on biomass, with emphasis on the topochemical and ultrastructural changes of plant cell walls that are related to the reduction of recalcitrance and the consequence of saccharification. It will lend support to the scientific research and development with respect to biomass conversion.
Biofuels ; Biomass ; Carbohydrates ; chemistry ; Cell Wall ; ultrastructure ; Fermentation ; Hydrolysis ; Lignin ; chemistry ; Plant Cells ; ultrastructure

ObjectiveTo study the expression of adhesion mol ecules (CD 54 、CD 62p ) on diabetic neuropathy in the STZ induced rats and the effect of cilostazol treatment.MethodsSD rats were divided into four groups: normal control, diabetes control, insulin and cilostaz ol treated group. Sciatic nerve conductive velocity, the level of CD 54 /CD 62p on the surface of mononuclear cell/platelet were examined, and ultrast ructure of sciatic nerve was observed.ResultsCilostazol incr eased sciatic nerve conductive velocity significantly [DM=(20.3?2.2) m/s vs ci lostazol=(28.9?7.9)m/s,(P

According to the sequence of SmLEA gene,a DNA fragment of 1 038 bp upstream of the coding sequence of SmLEA gene was amplified by DNA walking with the genomic DNA of Salvia miltiorrhiz as the template.Sequence analysis showed that the fragment contained some putative cis-elements relating to abiotic stress,ABA,seed specific expression.So the S.miltiorrhiz seedings was treated with 100?mol/L ABA,200mmol/L NaCl,4℃,and subjected to dehydration.The real-time PCR showed that expression levels of SmLEA was increased obviously,which was in accordance with the sequence analysis.

The model of rats irradiated by 60Co-?-ray (60Co) or injected by cyclophosphamide (Cy) was studied. It was found that the contents of monoamine neurotransmitters changes greatly in the hypothalamus in both kinds of model. The contents of noradrenalin (NA) and dopamine (DA), and the ratio of DA to DOPAC increased significantly in hypothalamus of rats irradiated by ""Co. The contents of NA and the ratio of 5-hydroxyamine (5-HT) to 5-hychoxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) decreased markedly in lamus of rats injected by Cy. The author thinks that there is a certain relation between the of monoamine eurotransmitters and the activity of methylation of NA and monoamine oxidase.

The tumor microenvironment (TME), a dynamic and complex local environment, interacts with the tumor cells and is closely related to tumor growth, metastasis, immune escape and drug resistance. Thus, targeting the TME has been a worldwide focus in cancer therapy. Many natural products possess the advantages of multiple targets, multiple pathways and wide pharmacological functions, and are the main source of antitumor drugs. In recent years studies have found that some natural products had advantageous effects on the TME. In this review, we summarize the components and functions of the TME and some natural products that target the TME, with references to the drug therapy of cancer.

In this study,the rDNA ITS sequence of isolate of Lactarius deliciosus(L.)Gray was sequenced.Molecular identification was accomplished using phylogenetic tree analysis of 22 Lactarius nrDNA-ITS nucleotide sequence including the 2 new and 20 GenBank sequence.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Hepatobiliary (FACT-Hep) questionnaire in measuring the quality of life in patients with primary hepatic carcinoma (PHC) in China. METHODS: FACT-Hep questionnaire was translated into Chinese and revised properly. From September 2005 to April 2006, one hundred and eighty patients with primary liver carcinoma were admitted and measured by using the Chinese version of FACT-Hep questionnaire, and the reliabilities, validities and responsibilities of the questionnaire were assessed. RESULTS: Correlation coefficient was higher between items and dimension of their corresponding domain (0.5933+/-0.1652) than that between the items and other domains (0.2749+/-0.1922). Six principal constituents were extracted by factor analysis and represented all domains of the questionnaire. The combinations of components were consistent with what was expected. The correlation coefficient of criterion-related validity was 0.828. The test-retest reliability correlation coefficients of physical, social/family, emotion, function, symptom and total questionnaire were 0.731, 0.334, 0.953, 0.786, 0.785 and 0.801 respectively, and the values of Cronbach's alpha were 0.7397, 0.4193, 0.7914, 0.8250, 0.8399 and 0.9161, respectively. There were statistical differences in scores of FACT-Hep questionnaire in different PHC stages or in different Child-Pugh classes (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The FACT-Hep questionnaire can measure the quality of life in patients with PHC with good reliability, validity and responsiveness; it can be used in assessing the disease-specific health-related quality of life of patients with hepatobiliary cancers.

Objective To explore the signal mechanism of proliferation stimulating effect of connec-tive tissue growth factor (CTGF) on hypertrophic scar (HS) derived fibroblasts. Methods <'3>H-TdR in-corporation technique was used to determine the proliferative effect of CTGF at different concentration. Western blot was applied to semi-quantitively analyze the expression of phosphorylated and total ERK1/2 protein after 0, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 min of CTGF stimulation, and the relative value of which was de-fined as AI to measure the activation of ERK1/2 signal pathway. PD98059 was admitted to specifically block the ERK1/2 pathway, and subsequently cell proliferation stimulated by CTGF was studied by MTT. Results CTGF could stimulate fibroblasts proliferation with a dose-dependant manner, and activa-ted the ERK1/2 signal pathway, and AI built up to 0.209±0.0201, reaching the apex at 15 min after stimulation performed. Inhibition of ERK1/2 activation by PD98059 suppressed CTGF-mediated HS fi-broblasts proliferation significantly, while OD significantly dropped. Conclusion CTGF induces a prolif-erative response in HS fibroblasts, and this action is mainly dependent on the activation of ERK1/2 signal pathway.

Objective To study to the effect of 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser irradiation on the melanogenesis in a human epidermal melanocyte line PIG. Methods Cultured PIG cells were irradiated with 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (Medlite C6) at different energy densities for 10 times. After additional culture for various durations, cell viability was detected by MT assay, tyrosinase activity by dopa oxidation assay, mRNA and protein expressions of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein (TRP)-1 and TRP-2 by real-time quantitative fluorescent RT-PCR and Westen blotting respectively, Results The irradiation with Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at energy densities from 1 to 3 J/cm2 had no obvious effect on the viability of PIG cells. After irradiation with Nd:YAG laser at 1 J/cm2, PIG cells showed a significant increase in the tyrosinase activity,mRNA expressions of tyrosinase and TRP-1 compared with unirradiated cells (0.563 ± 0.014 vs 0.501 ±0.019, 1.40±0.11 vs 1.0, 1.28 ± 0.03 vs 1.0, all P＜ 0.05), but both the mRNA (0.91 ± 0.17 vs 1.0, P＞0.05) and protein expressions of TRP-2 experienced no significant changes before and after the irradiation.However, a significant decrease was noted in PIG cells irradiated with Nd:YAG laser at 3 J/cm2 in tyrosinase activity, mRNA and protein expressions of tyrosinase (0.70 ± 0.02 vs 1.0, 0.64 ± 0.05 vs 1.0, both P ＜ 0.05),TRP-1 (0.73±0.04 vs l.0, 0.86±0.17 vs l.0, both P＜0.05) andTRP-2 (0.68±0.04 vs l.0,0.69±0.11vs 1.0, both P ＜0.05) in comparison with unirradiated PIG cells. Conclusions The 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser irradiation may affect the melanogenesis in PIG cells. With no influence on cell viability, the 1064-nm Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 1 J/cm2 could enhance melanogenesis, while that at 3 J/cm2 could suppress melanogenesis, in PIG cells.

Objective To study the value of application of histamine provocation test and airway resistance measurement in diagnosis and therapeutic efficacy in preschool children with asthma.Methods Histamine provocation test and airway resistance measurement by the Italian MEFAR MB3 provocating instrument and Germen Microloop lung function instrument for 42 cases who were diagnosed as asthmatic(27 patients with bronchial asthma and 15 cases of cough variant asthma)and 21 healthy cases was compared,and the differences between the 2 groups and the value of therapeutic efficacy were analyzed.Results The resistance ratio of respiratory tract of control group was(97.11?9.09)%,which in asthma and cough variant asthma group was(229.37?57.48)% and(248.80?76.80)%.There was significant difference between the 3 groups(F=48.466 P