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This paper explores the mechanism for the harmonic voltage measurement error (HVME) of a capacitor voltage transformer (CVT) in a comprehensive way and develops a practical error correction method to improve the harmonic measurement performance of a CVT. The harmonic equivalent circuit (HEC) of CVTs with different types of dampers are established and the parameter value calculation methods of the circuit elements are presented. Characteristics of the individual inherent resonance mode of the HEC, including the resonant frequency, the resonant type and the circuit elements involved, are analyzed systematically. Centered on resonance mode formulation, an universal error correction method for CVTs in measuring harmonic voltage is proposed based on the piecewise fitting of the transformation ratio. A physical experimental platform available for low-voltage CVTs is developed in laboratory, which utilizes a 10-kV harmonic generator and a step-up transformer to provide harmonic signals with high voltage level. Moreover, a novel experimental scheme for testing the HVME of high-voltage CVTs is proposed based on alternating current/direct current (AC/DC) filters. Experiments are conducted on these experimental platforms to test the HVME of a 35-kV CVT in laboratory and a 525-kV CVT in a back-to-back DC converter station. The experimental results verify the validity of the built HECs of CVTs, the resonant mode analysis results and the resonant frequency calculation method. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed harmonic error correction method is proved by several examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mesoscale eddies off the coast of Chile significantly impact the distribution of local chlorophyll and the development of marine ecosystem. Multiple processes, including eddy trapping, pumping, advection, Ekman-pumping, and submesoscale dynamics, exert their impacts simultaneously on transport of water masses at different distances with respect to the eddy center. The cyclonic (anticyclonic) eddies are generally characterized by upwelling (downwelling) within the eddy, which elevates (depresses) chlorophyll inside the eddy. Outside the eddy periphery, multiple processes are involved simultaneously, but their corresponding influences on chlorophyll are not well identified. In this study, the amplitudes of cyclonic and anticyclonic eddies are distinguished as positive and negative values, respectively. A linear regression method is applied to seek the connection between eddy’s amplitude and chlorophyll distribution at different locations w.r.t. the eddy center. The regression slope between eddy amplitude and chlorophyll anomaly is found to be negative in the eddy interior and along the periphery, which gradually changes to positive away from the periphery. The location where the response of chlorophyll to an eddy switches its sign is defined as the transition zone. The location of the transition zone varies with offshore distance and is impacted by topography, such as the presence of islands, which can change the dynamics of eddies. Thus, the distance from eddy center and offshore distance from coast should be taken into consideration when investigating their influences on nutrient transport and chlorophyll distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of mitochondrial genome data for Aphididae, one of the economically important insect pest families, in public databases is limited. The advent of next generation sequencing technology provides the potential to generate mitochondrial genome data for many species timely and cost-effectively. In this report, we used transcriptome sequencing technology to determine all the 37 mitochondrial genes of the cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora. This method avoids the necessity of finding suitable primers for long PCRs or primer-walking amplicons, and is proved to be effective in obtaining the whole set of mitochondrial gene data for insects with difficulty in sequencing mitochondrial genome by PCR-based strategies. Phylogenetic analyses of aphid mitochondrial genome data show clustering based on tribe level, and strongly support the monophyly of the family Aphididae. Within the monophyletic Aphidini, three samples from Aphis grouped together. In another major clade of Aphididae, Pterocomma pilosum was recovered as a potential sister-group of Cavariella salicicola, as part of Macrosiphini. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GRAbB (Genomic Region Assembly by Baiting) is a new program that is dedicated to assemble specific genomic regions from NGS data. This approach is especially useful when dealing with multi copy regions, such as mitochondrial genome and the rDNA repeat region, parts of the genome that are often neglected or poorly assembled, although they contain interesting information from phylogenetic or epidemiologic perspectives, but also single copy regions can be assembled. The program is capable of targeting multiple regions within a single run. Furthermore, GRAbB can be used to extract specific loci from NGS data, based on homology, like sequences that are used for barcoding. To make the assembly specific, a known part of the region, such as the sequence of a PCR amplicon or a homologous sequence from a related species must be specified. By assembling only the region of interest, the assembly process is computationally much less demanding and may lead to assemblies of better quality. In this study the different applications and functionalities of the program are demonstrated such as: exhaustive assembly (rDNA region and mitochondrial genome), extracting homologous regions or genes (IGS, RPB1, RPB2 and TEF1a), as well as extracting multiple regions within a single run. The program is also compared with MITObim, which is meant for the exhaustive assembly of a single target based on a similar query sequence. GRAbB is shown to be more efficient than MITObim in terms of speed, memory and disk usage. The other functionalities (handling multiple targets simultaneously and extracting homologous regions) of the new program are not matched by other programs. The program is available with explanatory documentation at . GRAbB has been tested on Ubuntu (12.04 and 14.04), Fedora (23), CentOS (7.1.1503) and Mac OS X (10.7). Furthermore, GRAbB is available as a docker repository: brankovics/grabb (). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Histone modifications are involved in regulation of chromatin structure. To investigate the relationship between chromatin modification and cell cycle regulation during plant cell proliferation, Okadaic acid (OA), a specific inhibitor of serine/threonine protein phosphatase, was applied in this study. The results showed that OA caused the cell cycle arrest at preprophase, leading to seedling growth inhibition. Western blotting assay revealed that the spatial distribution of phosphorylation of Ser10 histone H3 tails (H3S10ph) signals was altered under OA treatment. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) was found to be at higher levels and TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay displayed DNA breaks happened at the chromatin after treatment with OA, companied with an increase in the acetylation of histone H4 at lysine 5 (H4K5ac) level. From these observations, we speculated that the alteration of the spatial distribution of H3S10ph and the level of H4K5ac was involved in the procedure that OA induced DNA breaks and G2-M arrested by the accumulation of ROS, and that the histone H3S10ph and H4K5ac might facilitate DNA repair by their association with the chromatin decondensation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a meta-analysis to explore the relationships between p14ARF gene methylation and clinicopathological features of colorectal cancer (CRC). Databases, including Pubmed, Embase and Cochrane Library, were searched and, finally, a total of 18 eligible researches encompassing 1988 CRC patients were selected. Combined odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were evaluated under a fixed effects model for absence of heterogeneity. Significant associations were observed between p14ARF gene methylation and tumor location (OR = 2.35, 95% CI: 1.55–3.55, P = 0.001), microsatellite instability (MSI) status (OR = 3.28, 95% CI: 2.12–5.07, P<0.0001). However, there were no significant associations between p14ARF gene methylation and tumor stage, tumor differentiation. We concluded that p14ARF gene methylation may be significantly associated with tumor location, and MSI status of CRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The effects of growth hormone on cognitive dysfunction were observed in a controlled cortical impact (CCI) rat model and the underlying mechanism was explored. Method: Three-month-old male SD rats were randomly divided into sham (n = 10), control (n = 10), and CCI groups (n = 40) The parameters were set as follows: striking speed, 3.5 m/s; impact depth, 1.5 mm; and dwell time, 400 msec. Eight and ten weeks post-injury, the GH levels were measured the water maze test and novel object recognition test were performed. CCI rats were divided into normal and decreased GH groups, and further randomly divided into two sub-groups (rhGH treatment and saline vehicle groups). All rats were tested for SYN, BDNF, and TrkB mRNA in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus by RT-PCR. Results: CCI rats 8 weeks post-injury had cognitive dysfunction regardless of the GH level (P<0.05). rhGH treatment improved cognitive function in CCI rats. There was a positive correlation between the expression of prefrontal BDNF and SYN mRNA in CCI rats after rhGH therapy and the water maze test score (r = 0.773 and 0.534, respectively; P<0.05). Furthermore, the expression of BDNF, TrkB, and SYN mRNA in the hippocampus was negatively correlated with the water maze test score (r = 0.602, 0.773, 0.672, and 0.783, respectively; P<0.05). There was a difference in the expression of hippocampal and prefrontal BDNF, TrkB, and SYN mRNA (P<0.05) Conclusion: rhGH treatment had a positive effect on cognitive function, which was more evident in GH-deficient rats. The increased expression of hippocampal and prefrontal BDNF and TrkB mRNA is implicated in rhGH therapy to improve cognitive function. Changes in the expression of hippocampal SYN mRNA following rhGH therapy may also play a role in improving cognitive function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphate (Pi) transporters play critical roles in Pi acquisition and homeostasis. However, little is known about these transporters in oilseed rape. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to characterize the members of the PHT1 gene family in allotetraploid Brassica napus and to analyze their expression profiles in response to environmental stresses. In total, 49 PHT1 family members were identified in B. napus, including 27 genes in the A subgenome and 22 in the C subgenome. Most of the PHT1 proteins were predicted to localize to the plasma membrane. Phylogenetic analysis suggested that the members of the PHT1 gene family can be divided into seven clades, with the introns/exons and protein motifs conserved in each clade. Collinearity analysis revealed that most of the BnaPHT1 genes shared syntenic relationships with PHT1 members in Arabidopsis thaliana, B. rapa, and B. oleracea, and that whole-genome duplication (polyploidy) played a major driving force for BnaPHT1 evolution in addition to segmental duplication. Transcript abundance analysis showed that a broad range of expression patterns of individual BnaPHT1 genes occurred in response to phosphorus (P) deficiency. In addition, the expression levels of BnaPHT1 genes can be regulated by different nutrient stresses, including nitrogen (N), potassium (K), sulfur (S) and iron (Fe) stresses. Moveover, salt and drought stresses can regulate the transcript abundances of BnaPHT1s, as well as phytohormones including auxin and cytokinin. Gene coexpression analysis based on the RNA-seq data implied that BnaPHT1s might cooperate with each other as well as with other genes to regulate nutrient homeostasis in B. napus. Further analysis of the promoters revealed that GT-1, DRE and P1BS elements are widely distributed within the promoter regions of BnaPHT1 genes. Our results indicate that BnaPHT1s might be involved in cross-talk for sensing the external status of P, N, K, S and Fe, as well as salt and drought stresses. Moreover, these processes might be mediated by phytohormones. Our findings provide the first step in the complex genetic dissection of the Pi transport system in plants and implicate multiple transcriptional regulation, which probably refers to new roles of PHT1 genes in B. napus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the phoA-fusion technology, the recombinant metallothionein (MT) from freshwater crab (Sinopotamon yangtsekiense) has been successfully produced in Escherichia coli. MT purified from the bacterial suspension showed one polypeptide with a molecular weight of 7 kDa by tricine-sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (Tricine-SDS-PAGE). Western-blotting confirmed the polypeptides had a specific reactivity with mouse polyclonal MT anti-serum. Based on the purified MT and MT anti-serum, the reaction parameters for an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were developed. The direct coating ELISA showed a higher linear relationship compared to antibody sandwich coating ELISA. The optimal dilution rates of purified MT anti-serum and coating period were shown to be 1:160,000 and 12 hours at 4°C. At 37°C, the appropriate reaction duration of the first antibody and the second antibody were 2 hours and 1 hour, respectively. According to these optimal parameters, the standard linear equation, y = 0.0032x + 0.1769 (R2 = 0.9779, x, y representing MT concentration and OD450 value), was established for the determination of MT concentration with a valid range of 3.9–500 ng/ml. In verification experiments, the mean coefficients of variation of the intra-assay and inter-assay were 3.260% and 3.736%, respectively. According to the result of MT recovery, ELISA with an approaching 100% MT recovery was more reliable and sensitive than the Cd saturation assay. In conclusion, the newly developed ELISA of this study was precise, stable and repeatable, and could be used as a biomarker tool to monitor pollution by heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, an increasing number of studies have reported the presence of plant miRNAs in human samples, which resulted in a hypothesis asserting the existence of plant-derived exogenous microRNA (xenomiR). However, this hypothesis is not widely accepted in the scientific community due to possible sample contamination and the small sample size with lack of rigorous statistical analysis. This study provides a systematic statistical test that can validate (or invalidate) the plant-derived xenomiR hypothesis by analyzing 388 small RNA sequencing data from human samples in 11 types of body fluids/tissues. A total of 166 types of plant miRNAs were found in at least one human sample, of which 14 plant miRNAs represented more than 80% of the total plant miRNA abundance in human samples. Plant miRNA profiles were characterized to be tissue-specific in different human samples. Meanwhile, the plant miRNAs identified from microbiome have an insignificant abundance compared to those from humans, while plant miRNA profiles in human samples were significantly different from those in plants, suggesting that sample contamination is an unlikely reason for all the plant miRNAs detected in human samples. This study also provides a set of testable synthetic miRNAs with isotopes that can be detected in situ after being fed to animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acupuncture has been used in the therapy of Alzheimer disease (AD); however, its neural mechanisms are still unclear. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of acupuncture on the functional connectivity in AD by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Twenty-eight subjects (14 AD and 14 normal controls) participated in this study. The rs-fMRI data were acquired before and after acupuncture stimulation at the acupoints of Tai chong (Liv3) and Hegu (LI4). During the baseline resting state, by using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), we found a significantly decreased or increased ALFF in the AD patients relative to the controls. These regions were located in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), left postcentral gyrus, subgenual cingulate cortex (SCC), right middle cingulate cortex (MCC), right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), right hippocampus and the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG). Then, we selected these brain regions as seeds to investigate whether regional activity and functional connectivity could be modulated by acupuncture in the AD patients. When compared to the pre-acupuncture stage, several of the above regions showed an increased or decreased ALFF after acupuncture in the AD patients. In addition, the functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the precentral gyrus showed enhancement after acupuncture in the AD patients. Finally, there were close correlations between the functional activity, connectivity and clinical performance in the AD patients. The current study confirmed that acupuncture at Tai chong (Liv3) and He gu (LI4) can modulate functional activity and connectivity of specific cognition-related regions in AD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although mice are commonly used to study different aspects of fatty liver disease, currently there are no validated fully automated methods to assess steatosis in mice. Accurate detection of macro- and microsteatosis in murine models of fatty liver disease is important in studying disease pathogenesis and detecting potential hepatotoxic signature during drug development. Further, precise quantification of macrosteatosis is essential for quantifying effects of therapies. Here, we develop and validate the performance of automated classifiers built using image processing and machine learning methods for detection of macro- and microsteatosis in murine fatty liver disease and study the correlation of automated quantification of macrosteatosis with expert pathologist’s semi-quantitative grades. The analysis is performed on digital images of 27 Hematoxylin & Eosin stained murine liver biopsy samples. An expert liver pathologist scored the amount of macrosteatosis and also annotated macro- and microsteatosis lesions on the biopsy images using a web-application. Using these annotations, supervised machine learning and image processing techniques, we created classifiers to detect macro- and microsteatosis. For macrosteatosis prediction, the model’s precision, sensitivity and area under the receiver operator characteristic (AUROC) were 94.2%, 95%, 99.1% respectively. When correlated with pathologist’s semi-quantitative grade of steatosis, the model fits with a coefficient of determination value of 0.905. For microsteatosis prediction, the model has precision, sensitivity and AUROC of 79.2%, 77%, 78.1% respectively. Validation by the expert pathologist of classifier’s predictions made on unseen images of biopsy samples showed 100% and 63% accuracy for macro- and microsteatosis, respectively. This novel work demonstrates that fully automated assessment of steatosis is feasible in murine liver biopsies images. Our classifier has excellent sensitivity and accuracy for detection of macrosteatosis in murine fatty liver disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in abiotic stress response and physiological signal transduction resisting to the adverse environment. Therefore, it is very essential for the quantitative detection of abscisic acid (ABA) due to its indispensable role in plant physiological activities. Herein, a new detection method based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) using aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is developed without using expensive instrument and antibody. In the presence of ABA, ABA specifically bind with their aptamers to form the ABA-aptamer complexes with G-quadruplex-like structure and lose the ability to stabilize AuNPs against NaCl-induced aggregation. Meanwhile, the changes of the LSPR spectra of AuNP solution occur and therefore the detection of ABA achieved. Under optimized conditions, this method showed a good linear range covering from 5×10−7 M to 5×10−5 M with a detection limit of 0.33 μM. In practice, the usage of this novel method has been demonstrated by its application to detect ABA from fresh leaves of rice with the relative error of 6.59%-7.93% compared with ELISA bioassay. The experimental results confirmed that this LSPR-based biosensor is simple, selective and sensitive for the detection of ABA. The proposed LSPR method could offer a new analytical platform for the detection of other plant hormones by changing the corresponding aptamer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Delta White Goat is the only goat breed that produces high-quality brush hair, or type III hair, which is specialized for use in top-grade writing brushes. There has been little research, especially molecular research, on the traits that result in high-quality brush hair in the Yangtze River Delta White Goat. To explore the molecular mechanisms of the formation of high-quality brush hair, High-throughput RNA-Seq technology was used to compare skin samples from Yangtze River Delta White Goats that produce high-quality hair and non high-quality hair for identification of the important genes and related pathways that might influence the hair quality traits. The results showed that 295 genes were expressed differentially between the goats with higher and lower hair quality, respectively. Of those genes, 132 were up-regulated, 62 were down-regulated, and 101 were expressed exclusively in the goats with high-quality brush hair. Gene Ontology and Metabolic Pathway Significant Enrichment analyses of the differentially expressed genes indicated that the MAP3K1, DUSP1, DUSP6 and the MAPK signaling pathway might play important roles in the traits important for high-quality brush hair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study determined if the variation in grain filling parameters between two different spikelet types of rice (Oryza sativa L.) is regulated by the hormonal levels in the grains. Two rice mutants, namely, a large-grain mutant (AZU-M) and a small-grain mutant (ZF802-M), and their respective wild types (AZU-WT and ZF802-WT) were grown in the field. The endosperm cell division rate, filling rate, and hormonal levels: zeatin + zeatin riboside (Z+ZR), indo-3-acetic acid (IAA), polyamines (PAs), and abscisic acid (ABA) were determined. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the filling and endosperm cell division rates. These rates were synchronous between the superior and inferior spikelets for both mutants. However, the abovementioned parameters were significantly different between the two spikelet types for the two wild types. The superior spikelets filled faster and their filling rate was higher compared to the inferior ones. Changes in the concentrations of plant hormones were consistent with the observed endosperm cell division rate and the filling rate for both types of spikelets of mutant and wild type plants. Regression analysis showed a significant positive correlation between cell division and filling rates with the concentrations of the investigated hormones. Exogenous chemical application verified the role of ABA, IAA, and PAs in grain filling. The results indicate that poor filling of inferior spikelets in rice occurs primarily due to the reduced hormone concentrations therein, leading to lower division rate of endosperm cells, fewer endosperm cells, slower filling rate, and smaller grain weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While novel picornaviruses are being discovered in rodents, their host range and pathogenicity are largely unknown. We identified two novel picornaviruses, rosavirus B from the street rat, Norway rat, and rosavirus C from five different wild rat species (chestnut spiny rat, greater bandicoot rat, Indochinese forest rat, roof rat and Coxing's white-bellied rat) in China. Analysis of 13 complete genome sequences showed that “Rosavirus B” and “Rosavirus C” represent two potentially novel picornavirus species infecting different rodents. Though being most closely related to rosavirus A, rosavirus B and C possessed distinct protease cleavage sites and variations in Yn-Xm-AUG sequence in 5’UTR and myristylation site in VP4. Anti-rosavirus B VP1 antibodies were detected in Norway rats, whereas anti-rosavirus C VP1 and neutralizing antibodies were detected in Indochinese forest rats and Coxing's white-bellied rats. While the highest prevalence was observed in Coxing's white-bellied rats by RT-PCR, the detection of rosavirus C from different rat species suggests potential interspecies transmission. Rosavirus C isolated from 3T3 cells causes multisystemic diseases in a mouse model, with high viral loads and positive viral antigen expression in organs of infected mice after oral or intracerebral inoculation. Histological examination revealed alveolar fluid exudation, interstitial infiltration, alveolar fluid exudate and wall thickening in lungs, and hepatocyte degeneration and lymphocytic/monocytic inflammatory infiltrates with giant cell formation in liver sections of sacrificed mice. Since rosavirus A2 has been detected in fecal samples of children, further studies should elucidate the pathogenicity and emergence potential of different rosaviruses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene encodes rRNA for protein synthesis. Aberrant expression of the rRNA gene has been generally observed in tumor cells and levels of its promoter methylation as an epigenetic regulator affect rRNA gene transcription. The possible relationship between expression and promoter methylation of rDNA has not been examined in human clinical cervical cancer. Here we investigate rRNA gene expression by quantitative real time PCR, and promoter methylation levels by HpaII/MspI digestion and sodium bisulfite sequencing in the development of human cervical cancer. We find that indeed rRNA levels are elevated in most of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) specimens as compared with non-cancer tissues. The rDNA promoter region in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) tissues reveals significant hypomethylation at cytosines in the context of CpG dinucleotides, accompanied with rDNA chromatin decondensation. Furthermore treatment of HeLa cells with the methylation inhibitor drug 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine (DAC) demonstrates the negative correlation between the expression of 45S rDNA and the methylation level in the rDNA promoter region. These data suggest that a decrease in rDNA promoter methylation levels can result in an increase of rRNA synthesis in the development of human cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is becoming a worldwide problem. However, current treatment options are limited. In the current study we showed that QiShenYiQi (QSYQ), a water-ethanol extract from several Chinese medicines, is a potent inhibitor of renal interstitial fibrosis. QSYQ inhibited transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-responsive α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), collagen I, and fibronectin up-regulation in obstructive nephropathy and cultured cells. Administration of QSYQ also inhibited the established renal interstitial fibrosis in obstructive nephropathy. Interestingly, QSYQ selectively inhibited TGF-β1-induced β-catenin up-regulation and downstream gene transcription. Taken together, our study suggests that QSYQ selectively inhibits TGF-β1-induced β-catenin up-regulation and might have significant therapeutic potential for the treatment of renal fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Hengduan Mountains are the core of the Sino-Himalayan Floristic Region. Rosa soulieana Crép. is an important wild rose species that is widely distributed in the Hengduan Mountains. To provide better future utilization of this wild rose, and also to add some possible proof of the effect of geomorphological and ecological characteristics of the Hengduan Mountains on the current spatial distribution and genetic diversity of local species, the genetic diversity and genetic structure of 556 individuals from 37 populations of R. soulieana were studied using fluorescent amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). R. soulieana showed a moderately high level of genetic diversity and a high level of genetic differentiation at the species level. The total percentage of polymorphic loci, total heterozygosity (Ht), Shannon index (I), and heterozygosity value within populations (Hs) were 97.8%, 0.253, 0.339, and 0.139, respectively. More than half of the total genetic variation (54.0%) occurred within populations, and the overall gene differentiation coefficient (Gst) was 0.451. The genetic differentiation among populations was positively and significantly correlated with geographic distance. The neighbor-joining cluster and the Bayesian analysis divided all the populations and individuals into 3 groups, and did not support the morphology based intraspecific varieties. The results confirmed that the ancient R. soulieana of the third group survived in northwestern Yunnan and Yalongjiang valley and then moved upnorth along the valley. The spatial distribution of the other two groups was the result of allopatric divergence due to long period of adaptation to the different climatic conditions of its distribution at either side of the Yalongjiang River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant potential of ampelopsin (APS) by using various methods in vitro, as well as to determine effects of APS on LPS-induced oxidative stress in piglets. The results showed that APS exhibited excellent free radical scavenging by DPPH, ABTS, O2•−, H2O2 and ferric reducing antioxidant power. Ampelopsin also protected pig erythrocytes against AAPH-induced apoptosis and hemolysis, decreased total superoxide dismutase activity, and increased lipid peroxidation. Furthermore the results demonstrated that APS enhanced the total antioxidant capacity and decreased the malondialdehyde and protein carbonyl contents in LPS-treated piglets. The results of the present investigation suggest that APS possesses a strong antioxidant activity and alleviates LPS-induced oxidative stress, possibly due to its ability to prevent reactive oxygen species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Both tribendimidine and mebendazole are broad-spectrum drugs for anti-intestinal nematodes. We aim to assess the efficacy and safety of tribendimidine and mebendazole in patients with co-infection of Clonorchis sinensis and other helminths. Method: We performed a randomized open-label trial in Qiyang, People's Republic of China. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups: (i) a single dose of 400 mg tribendimidine, (ii) 200 mg tribendimidine twice daily, (iii) 75 mg/kg praziquantel divided in four doses within 2 days, and (iv) a single dose of 400 mg mebendazole. Cure rates and egg reduction rates were assessed, and adverse events were monitored after treatments. Uncured patients accepted the second treatment with the same drugs after the first treatment. Results: 156 patients were eligible for the study. Results from the first treatment showed that the cure rates of single-dose tribendimidine and praziquantel against C. sinensis were 50% and 56.8%, respectively; the single-dose tribendimidine achieved the cure rate of 77.8% in the treatment for hookworm, which was significantly higher than that of praziquantel; Low cure rates were obtained in the treatment of single-dose tribendimidine against Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura (28.6% and 23.1%). Results of the second treatment illustrated the cure rates of tribendimidine and praziquantel against C. sinensis were 78.1% and 75%, respectively. Most adverse events were mild and transient. Adverse events caused by tribendimidine were significantly less than praziquantel. Conclusion: Single-dose tribendimidine showed similar efficacy against C. sinensis as praziquantel with less adverse events, and achieved significantly higher cure rate in the treatment for hookworm than those of praziquantel and mebendazole. Low cure rates, which were still higher than other drugs, were obtained in the treatment of single-dose tribendimidine against Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura. Trial Registration: Controlled-Trials.com [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]