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This study was performed to investigate the inhibitory mechanisms of 3 plant polyphenols, grape seed extract (GSE), lotus seed proanthocyanidins (LSPC) and lotus root polyphenol extract (LRPE), against Shewanella putrefaciens. Their antibacterial effects were determined in terms of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the growth curve of S. putrefaciens. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM), relative conductivity, propyridine iodide (PI) staining, alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity, extracellular protein content, nucleic acid leakage, Na+ K+ -ATPase activity and membrane protein fluorescence analysis, the antibacterial mechanism was explored. The results showed that the MICs of GSE, LRPE and LSPC were 31.25, 62.25 and 125.00 μg/mL, respectively. After S. putrefaciens was treated with the polyphenols, the position of membrane proteins was changed, the fluorescence intensity was reduced, the morphology was altered, the surface became wrinkled and sunken, and the growth was significantly inhibited. In addition, the activity of extracellular AKP, the contents of nucleic acid and extracellular protein in the bacterial suspension, relative conductivity and PI intake were significantly increased, and Na+ K+-ATPase was inactivated to a certain extent, thereby leading to cell death.

Chitosan nanoparticle is becoming an excellent carrier for the delivery of bioactive components due to the advantages of simple preparation, low cost and high biocompatibility. Previous studies have shown that chitosan/sodium tripolyphosphate (CS/TPP) and chitosan/flaxseed gum (CS/FG) nanoparticles loaded with bighead carp peptides (BCP) have the advantages of small particle size, high encapsulation rate and significant slow-release effect. This study explored the effects of ionic strength, pH, simulated digestion and storage time on the preparation of chitosan/sodium tripolyphosphate (CS/TPP-BCP) and chitosan/flaxseed gum (CS/FG-BCP) nanoparticles, and evaluated the extracellular lactate dehydrogenase content and antioxidant capacity in vivo of Caco-2 cells treated with the chitosan nanoparticles and their cellular uptake. The results showed that the two kinds of chitosan nanoparticles were stable under acidic conditions and sensitive to a solution with opposite charges. The stability of the nanoparticles loaded with bighead peptides was higher than that of free peptides and both nanoparticles showed higher biocompatibility and cell uptake.

In this study, I first provide an in-depth study on the TSM ho-V construction with a monosyllabic V, especially on the morpho-syntactic function and the degree-introducing function of the morpheme ho 'hoVD'. Then, based on Liu's (2020) study on the TSM u-V construction, I comprehensively compare these two constructions, which reaches two major points. First, the ho-V sequence and the u-V sequence are intransitive compound verb. The V that u 'uVD' merges with can be a lexical verb or an aspectual verb; however, the V that ho 'hoVD' merges with must be a lexical verb. When forming a compound verb with a lexical verb, u 'uVD' has the same morpho-syntactic function as ho 'hoVD'. Second, these two morphemes differ in how to introduce the degree meaning for their corresponding construction. Namely, the dimension of measurement carried by the measure function introduced by u 'uVD' is determined by what is measured; however, the morpheme ho 'hoVD' intrinsically carries a dimension of measurement. Depending on what the morpheme ho 'hoVD' modifies is the entity denoted by the subject in question or the eventuality argument of V, the dimension of measurement carried by it can be interpreted as 'be good for one to V' or 'it is easy for one to V'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies the syntax, semantics, and pragmatics of the referential "renjia" (people-home) in mandarin Chinese, especially the one that allows a specific reference reading. A step-by-step comparison between the usage of the specific referential people-home and that of the Mandarin Chinese bare reflexive "ziji" (self) is provided. Shows why contrary/residual reference analysis becomes a source of inspiration from which the sympathetic antilogophor analysis for renjia is proposed. (Author/VWL)

In the duō event quantity construction, duō 'much' is a quantity adjective. What duō 'much' modifies is the root of the verb and the root has to move to the light verb position to be categorically defined. The quantity adjective duō 'much' functions to introduce a measure function which measures the event denoted by the verb along the dimension valued by the assignment function A, and the domain to which the measure function applies must be monotonic. So, the 'modification' relation between the quantity adjective duō 'much' and its modifyee essentially differs from that between a typical gradable adjective like tián 'sweat' and its modifyee. This explains how the quantity adjective duō 'much' differs from the typical adjective in syntax and semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instead of jumping into the debate on whether the Chinese bi comparative is a clausal or a phrasal comparative, I argue for the following two points concerning this construction. First, the marker bi is not a degree word; instead, it functions to introduce the standard and forms a pair of correlative words with a degree adverb with the meaning of comparison. Second, the standard introduced by bi cannot be elements that can be modified by a degree adverb; otherwise, a conflict between two dimensions of comparison will occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From structural analysis on genetically abnormal and chemically modified human antithrombin III [Koide, T., Odani, S., Takahashi, K., Ono, T. and Sakuragawa, N. (1984) Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 81, 289 -293; Chang, J.-Y. and Tran, T. H., (1986) J. Blot Chem. 261, 1174-1176; Blackburn, M. N., Smith, R. L., Carson, J. and Sibley, C. C. (1984) J. Blot Chem. 259, 939 - 941], the heparin-binding site of antithrombin III has been suggested to be in the region of Pro-41, Arg-47 and Trp-49. In this study the heparin-binding site was probed by preferential cleavage of V8 protease on heparin-treated and non-treated native antithrombin III. The study has been based on the presumption that the heparin-binding site of antithrombin III is situated at exposed surface domain and may be preferentially attacked during limited proteolytic digestion. Partially digested antithrombin III samples were monitored by quantitative amino-terminal analysis and amino acid sequencing to identify the preferential cleavage sites. 1-h-digested antithrombin III was separated on HPLC and peptide fragments were isolated and characterized both qualitatively and quantitatively. The results reveal that Glu-Gly (residues 34- 35), Glu-Ala (residues 42-43) and Glu-Leu (residues 50- 51) are three preferential cleavage sites for V8 protease and their cleavage, especially the Glu-Ala and the Glu-Leu sites, was drastically inhibited when antithrombin III was preincubated with heparin. Both high-affinity and low-affinity antithrombin-II1-binding heparins were shown to inhibit the V8 protease digestion of native antithrombin 111, but the high-affinity sample exhibited a higher inhibition activity than the low-affinity heparin. These findings (a) imply that the segment containing residues 34-51 is among the most exposed region of native antithrombin Ill and (b) support the previous conclusions that this region may play a pivotal role in the heparin binding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]