Objective: The moisture content in the soil directly affects the yield and quality of Panax notoginseng, especially at the age of three years old. However, the suitable moisture for the growth of P. notoginseng is unknown. In this study, the effects of different soil moisture on the growth of P. notoginseng were studied. Methods: Four different water treatments (0.45 field capacity (FC), 0.60 FC, 0.70 FC, and 0.85 FC) were set up in Shilin County, Yunnan Province, China. The water consumption and daily dynamic of water consumption were determined daily (from April 21 to October 18, 2012), and the daily dynamic of water consumption under different weather conditions (sunny and rainy) was determined. The transpiration coefficient and water use efficiency were calculated through dry matter accumulation and total water consumption. Accumulation of saponins of roots of P. notoginseng were analyzed by HPLC after treated, and the soil moisture content suitable for the growth of P. notoginseng was estimated by regression fitting of the active ingredient accumulation and the soil moisture content. Results: The water consumption of 0.85 FC, 0.70 FC, 0.60 FC and 0.45 FC were 2.89, 3.68, 3.37 and 2.73 kg/plant per day, respectively. The water consumption of P. notoginseng from June to August was greater than other months. The daily dynamic of water consumption on sunny days and sunny days after rain showed a “double peak” feature, and it showed a “single peak” feature on rainy days. The water uses efficiency (WUE) of 0.85 FC, 0.70 FC, 0.60 FC and 0.45 FC were 2.51, 3.32, 4.59, 3.39 gDW/kg H

BACKGROUND: Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common pathological type of glomerular disease. Kidney biopsy, the gold standard for IgAN diagnosis, has not been routinely applied in hospitals worldwide due to its invasion nature. Thus, we aim to establish a non-invasive diagnostic model and determine markers to evaluate disease severity by analyzing the serological parameters and pathological stages of patients with IgAN. METHODS: A total of 272 biopsy-diagnosed IgAN inpatients and 518 non-IgA nephropathy inpatients from the Department of Nephrology of Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital were recruited for this study. Routine blood examination, blood coagulation testing, immunoglobulin-complement testing, and clinical biochemistry testing were conducted and pathological stages were analyzed according to Lee grading system. The serological parameters and pathological stages were analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to estimate the diagnostic value of the clinical factors. Logistic regression was used to establish the diagnostic model. RESULTS: There were 15 significantly different serological parameters between the IgAN and non-IgAN groups (all P < 0.05). The ROC analysis was performed to measure the diagnostic value for IgAN of these parameters and the results showed that the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of total protein (TP), total cholesterol (TC), fibrinogen (FIB), D-dimer (D2), immunoglobulin A (IgA), and immunoglobulin G (IgG) were more than 0.70. The AUC of the "TC + FIB + D2 + IgA + age" combination was 0.86, with a sensitivity of 85.98% and a specificity of 73.85%. Pathological grades of I, II, III, IV, and V accounted for 2.21%, 17.65%, 62.50%, 11.76%, and 5.88%, respectively, with grade III being the most prevalent. The levels of urea nitrogen (UN) (13.57 ± 5.95 vs. 6.06 ± 3.63, 5.92 ± 2.97, 5.41 ± 1.73, and 8.41 ± 3.72 mmol/L, respectively) and creatinine (Cr) (292.19 ± 162.21 vs. 80.42 ± 24.75, 103.79 ± 72.72, 96.41 ± 33.79, and 163.04 ± 47.51 μmol/L, respectively) were significantly higher in grade V than in the other grades, and the levels of TP (64.45 ± 7.56, 67.16 ± 6.94, 63.22 ± 8.56, and 61.41 ± 10.86 vs. 37.47 ± 5.6 mg/d, respectively), direct bilirubin (DB) (2.34 ± 1.23, 2.58 ± 1.40, 1.91 ± 0.97, and 1.81 ± 1.44 vs. 0.74 ± 0.57 μmol/L, respectively), and IgA (310.35 ± 103.78, 318.48 ± 107.54, 292.58 ± 81.85, and 323.29 ± 181.67 vs. 227.17 ± 68.12 g/L, respectively) were significantly increased in grades II-V compared with grade I (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The established diagnostic model that combined multiple factors (TC, FIB, D2, IgA, and age) might be used for IgAN non-invasive diagnosis. TP, DB, IgA, Cr, and UN have the potential to be used to evaluate IgAN disease severity.
Adult ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Blood Urea Nitrogen ; Cholesterol ; blood ; Creatinine ; blood ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; metabolism ; Glomerulonephritis, IGA ; blood ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; blood ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; ROC Curve

BACKGROUND: Accurate estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and staging of chronic kidney disease (CKD) are important. Currently, there is no research on the differences in several estimated GFR equations for staging CKD in a large sample of centenarians. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the differences in CKD staging with the most commonly used equations and to analyze sources of discrepancy. METHODS: A total of 966 centenarians were enrolled in this study from June 2014 to December 2016 in Hainan province, China. The GFR with the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD), Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) and Berlin Initiative Study 1 (BIS1) equations were estimated. Agreement between these equations was investigated with the κ statistic and Bland-Altman plots. Sources of discrepancy were investigated by partial correlation analysis. RESULTS: The κ values of the MDRD and CKD-EPI equations, MDRD and BIS1 equations, and CKD-EPI and BIS1 equations were 0.610, 0.253, and 0.381, respectively. Serum creatinine (Scr) explained 10.96%, 41.60% and 17.06% of the variability in these three comparisons, respectively. Serum uric acid (SUA) explained 3.65% and 5.43% of the variability in the first 2 comparisons, respectively. Gender was associated with significant differences in these 3 comparisons (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The strengths of agreement between the MDRD and CKD-EPI equations were substantial, but those between the MDRD and BIS1 equations and the CKD-EPI and BIS1 equations were fair. The difference in CKD staging of the first 2 comparisons strongly depended on Scr, SUA and gender, and that of CKD-EPI and BIS1 equations strongly depended on Scr and gender. The incidence at various stages of CKD staging was quite different. Thus, a new equation that is more suitable for the elderly needs to be built in the future.
Aged, 80 and over ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Creatinine ; blood ; Cystatin C ; blood ; Female ; Glomerular Filtration Rate ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic ; blood ; physiopathology ; Uric Acid ; blood

Tyrosine decarboxylase (TyrDC) is an important enzyme in the secondary metabolism of several plant species, and was hypothesized to play a key role in the biosynthesis of phenylethanoid glycosides. Based on the transcriptome data, we cloned the full-length cDNA (GenBank accession NO. KU640395) of RgTyDC gene from Rehmannia glutinosa, and then performed bioinformatic analysis of the sequence. Further, we detected the expression pattern in different organs and hair roots treated with four elicitors by qRT-PCR. The results showed that the full length of RgTyDC cDNA was 1 530 bp encoding 509 amino acids. The molecular weight of the putative RgTyDC protein was about 56.6 kDa and the theoretical isoelectric point was 6.25. The RgTyDC indicated the highest homology with Sesamum indicum SiTyDC and Erythranthe guttata EgTyDC, both of them were reached 88%. RgTyDC highly expressed in R. glutinosa leaf, especially in senescing leaf, and rarely expressed in tuberous root. After the treatment of SA and MeJA, the relative expression level of RgTyDC mRNA was substantially increased. The results provide a foundation for exploring the molecular function of RgTyDC involved in phenylethanoid glycosides biosynthesis.

The H9N2 avian influenza virus ( AIV) has become increasingly concerning due to its role in severe economic losses in the poultry industry.Transmission of AIV to mammals, including pigs and humans, has accelerated to devise preventive strategies.To investigate the potential to be used as a vaccine vector for Eimeria mitis expressing antigens from H9N2 AIV, we here successfully developed stable transgenic E.mitis expressing HA1 protein from H9N2 AIV.Using the double-cassette expressing vector strategy with one cassette expressing yellow fluorescent protein ( YFP ) fused to muted dihydrofolate reductasethymidylate synthase derived from Toxoplasma gondii (TgDHFR—TSm2m3), the other expressing HA1 of the H9N2 virus, one transgenic E.mitis population ( Emi. HA1 ) was constructed.Sporozoites of E.mitis transfected with yellow fluorescent protein ( YFP) expression plasmid were inoculated into chickens via the cloacal route. The recovered fluorescent oocysts were sorted by fluorescence activated cell sorting ( FACS) and then successively passaged in chickens.The resulting population was analyzed by genome walking, western blot and indirect fluorescent assay ( IFA) . Genome walking confirmed the random integration of plasmid DNA into the genome; while western blot analysis demonstrated the expression of foreign protein-HA1.IFA result indicated the expressed by E.mitis mainly distributed the surface of cell membrane and the head of the sporozoites.We found that the reproduction of Emi.HA1 was similar with that of the parental strain.The expression of foreign antigens in the transgenic parasites will facilitate the development of transgenic E.mitis as a vaccine vector.

Microneme protein 2 ( Mic 2) is the structural protein of microneme of Eimeria spp.The secretion of Mic 2 is very important during the process of invading the host cells.In this study, we used a monoclonal antibody specific to E. tenella Mic 2 ( EtMic2) to detect the Mic 2 location in several Eimeria spp., i.e., E.tenella, E.mitis, E.stiedai and E. irresidua, by indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA).The Mic 2 was located in the anterior region of the sporozoites among all Eimeria spp., which indicated that Mic 2 is highly conserved among Eimeria spp.and could be used as a marker protein when studying the location of Eimeria spp.proteins.

Eimeria mitis with low pathogenicity is easily ignored compared with other Eimeria spp.in chicken and the mechanism of difference immunogenicity between different strains is unclear.In this study, E.mitis ( Zhuozhou Strain) was used to analysis its immunogenicity by the oocysts output post each immunization.Moreover, We analyzed the humoral immune response and cellular immune response elicited by E.mitis infection via the serum IgY antibody titer detected by ELISA and IFN-γsecretion cell population post stimulated with E.mitis in peripheral blood mononuclear cell ( PBMC) by ELISPOT, respectively.Our results show that the oocyst output was relatively low and the IgY titer was still very low after the second immunization.However, high concentration of IFN-γwas detected in PBMC after stimulated with E.mitis post the second immunization 2 weeks.Our results indicated that strong cellular immune responses elicited by E.mitis could be contributed to its good immunogenicity and thus protect chicken from homologous infection.

Apicomplexan parasites infect nearly all vertebrate hosts even including humans and cause some severe diseases such as malaria, toxoplasmosis, cryptosporidiosis which are responsible for substantial economic losses. Like most intracellular pathogens, egress from host cells is a vital step of the apicomplexan parasites, which attracted attentions of many research groups.Unfortunately, as an important genus of Phylum Apicomplexa, little information of egress is known on Eimeria species which leads large amount of losses to poultry industry annually.In this report we used ethanol to induce egress of E.tenella M2e transgenic strain (EtM2e) sporozoites which express yellow fluorescent protein (YFP).Results showed that ethanol could induce egress of EtM2e sporozoites from infected Madin Derby Bovine Kidney ( MDBK) cells, and this process was depended on the mobility of the parasites.We also found that ethanol could also stimulate microneme protein discharge.Furthermore, both the course of egress and the secretion of microneme were controlled by the flux of intracellular Ca2+of the parasite.Taken together, our results preliminarily explained the mechanism of egress of eimerian parasites, which provided clues to the further study.