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IntroductionChronic low-grade inflammation is associated with obesity and diabetes. However, what causes and mediates chronic inflammation in metabolic disorders is not well understood. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) mediates both infection-induced and sterile inflammation by recognizing pathogen-associated molecular patterns and endogenous molecules, respectively. Saturated fatty acids can activate TLR4, and TLR4-deficient mice were protected from high fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity and insulin resistance, suggesting that TLR4-mediated inflammation may cause metabolic dysfunction, such as obesity and insulin resistance.MethodsWe generated two transgenic (TG) mouse lines expressing a constitutively active TLR4 in adipose tissue and determined whether these TG mice would show increased insulin resistance.ResultsTG mice fed a high fat or a normal chow diet did not exhibit increased insulin resistance compared to their wild-type controls despite increased localized inflammation in white adipose tissue. Furthermore, females of one TG line fed a normal chow diet had improved insulin sensitivity with reduction in both adiposity and body weight when compared with wild-type littermates. There were significant differences between female and male mice in metabolic biomarkers and mRNA expression in proinflammatory genes and negative regulators of TLR4 signaling, regardless of genotype and diet.ConclusionsTogether, these results suggest that constitutively active TLR4-induced inflammation in white adipose tissue is not sufficient to induce systemic insulin resistance, and that high fat diet-induced insulin resistance may require other signals in addition to TLR4-mediated inflammation.

BackgroundSaturated fatty acids (FAs) released from triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRLs) activate Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2) and induce the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in monocytes. Certain plant polyphenols inhibit TLR-mediated signaling pathways.ObjectiveWe determined whether plasma free FAs (FFAs) after a moderately high-fat (MHF, 40% kcal from fat) breakfast modulate the inflammatory status of postprandial blood, and whether blueberry intake suppresses FFA-induced inflammatory responses in healthy humans.MethodsTwenty-three volunteers with a mean ± SEM age and body mass index (in kg/m(2)) of 30 ± 3 y and 21.9 ± 0.4, respectively, consumed an MHF breakfast with either a placebo powder or 2 or 4 servings of blueberry powder in a randomized crossover design. The placebo powder was provided on the first test day and the blueberry powder doses were randomized with a 2-wk washout period. Plasma concentrations of lipids, glucose, and cytokines were determined. To determine whether FFAs derived from TGRL stimulate monocyte activation, and whether this is inhibited by blueberry intake, whole blood was treated with lipoprotein lipase (LPL).ResultsThe median concentrations of FFAs and cytokines [tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-8] in postprandial plasma (3.5 h) decreased compared with fasting plasma regardless of the blueberry intake (P < 0.001 for FFAs and P < 0.05 for cytokines). However, concentrations of FFAs and cytokines including IL-1β increased in LPL-treated whole blood compared with untreated blood samples from participants who consumed the placebo powder. Blueberry intake suppressed IL-1β and IL-6 production in LPL-treated postprandial blood compared with the placebo control when fasting changes were used as a covariate.ConclusionsThe plasma FFA concentration may be an important determinant affecting inflammatory cytokine production in blood. Supplementation with blueberry powder did not affect plasma FFA and cytokine concentrations; however, it attenuated the cytokine production induced by ex vivo treatment of whole blood with LPL. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01594008.

The oxidation states, magnetic properties, and electronic configuration of Ru2(dpf)4Cl (1), Ru2(dpf)4(C(triple bond)CC6H5) (2), Ru2(dpf)4(C(triple bond)CC6H5)2 (3), and Ru2(dpf)4(CN)2 (4) (dpf=N,N'-diphenylformamidinate) are analyzed by X-ray diffraction, 13C NMR, and VU-visible spectroscopy. Compounds 2, 3, and 4 are prepared from Ru2(dpf)4Cl and Li(C(triple bond)CC6H5). Compounds 3 and 4 are diamagnetic and become paramagnetic on heating at controlled-potential reduction. The bond distance of these Ru complexes are analyzed by electrochemistry. The synthesis of 1 is discussed.

Higher plants contain families of actin-encoding genes that are divergent and differentially expressed. Progress in understanding the functions and evolution of plant actins has been hindered by the large size of the actin gene families. In this study, we characterized the structure and evolution of the actin gene family in Arabidopsis thaliana. DNA blot analyses with gene-specific probes suggested that all 10 of the Arabidopsis actin gene family members have been isolated and established that Arabidopsis has a much simpler actin gene family than other plants that have been examined. Phylogenetic analyses suggested that the Arabidopsis gene family contains at least two ancient classes of genes that diverged early in land plant evolution and may have separated vegetative from reproductive actins. Subsequent divergence produced a total of six distinct subclasses of actin, and five showed a distinct pattern of tissue specific expression. The concordance of expression patterns with the phylogenetic structure is discussed. These subclasses appear to be evolving independently, as no evidence of gene conversion was found. The Arabidopsis actin proteins have an unusually large number of nonconservative amino acid substitutions, which mapped to the surface of the actin molecule, and should effect protein-protein interactions.

Brachytic stem trait in soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr) is characterized by a geniculate internode arrangement and markedly shortened internodes; brachytic plants are much shorter than their nonbrachytic isolines. When the brachytic trait expression is suppressed, plants have heights similar to those of their nonbrachytic isolines. A series of greenhouse and field experiments involving light intensity and photoperiod treatments were conducted to determine their effects on plant height and other stem traits in 'Tracy-M' and 'Wright' soybean and in their brachytic near-isolines, B-Tracy-M and B-Wright. The experiments demonstrated that full expression of the brachytic stem trait is a light-regulated process. Under unshaded conditions in the field, B-Wright and B-Tracy-M had a plant height 48.7 and 78.9% of that of their respective nonbrachytic isolines. The most effective shading treatment (shade applied between 5 and 7 wk after emergence) produced a 46 and a 22% increase in plant height for B-Tracy-M and B-Wright, respectively, by increasing internode length. The shade treatment also suppressed the geniculate expression, reducing the internodal angles by 5 to 20 degrees for B-Tracy-M and 6 to 26 degrees for B-Wright. After shade removal, brachytic stem development resumed in subsequently formed internodes. The wide-row (76 cm) spacing (more plants per meter of row) decreased the percentage of brachytic plants at early growth stages by 47.5% and 22.7% for B-Tracy-M and B-Wright, respectively, compared with the narrow-row (25 cm) spacing. Increasing photoperiod from 14 to 16 h in the greenhouse decreased plant height and enhanced the development of brachytic stem trait. In general, B-Tracy-M appeared to be more sensitive than B-Wright to the treatments imposed in these studies.

The synthesis of six Ru2^6+ derivatives of the form Ru(L)4(C=CC6H5)2 is presented. Its electrochemical, spectroscopic, and structural properties are also examined.

The ligand addition and rearrangement products formed in the reaction between CN(super -) and four different diruthenium complexes of the type Ru(sub 2)(L)(sub 4)Cl, is reported. The structural and electrochemical properties of each synthesized compound were examined.

Network traffic distribution is heavy-tailed. Most of network flows are short and carry very few packets, and the number of large flows is small. Traditional random sampling tends to sample more large flows than short ones. However, many applications depend on per-flow traffic other than just large flows. A flow fair sampling based on multistage Bloom filters is proposed. The total measurement interval is divided into n child time intervals. In each child time interval, employ multistage Bloom filters to query the incoming packet's flow whether exists in flow information table or not. If exists, sample the packet with static sampling rate which is inversely proportional to the estimation flow traffic up to the previous time interval; if not, that is it's a new flow's first packet, create the flow information, insert it into the multistage Bloom filters and sample the packet with 100% probability. The results show that the proposed algorithm is accurate especially for short flows and easy to extend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]