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MsCML46 enhances tolerance to abiotic stresses through alleviating osmotic stress and oxidative damage by regulating the expression of stress-related genes to optimize osmolytes levels and antioxidant enzyme activity in transgenic tobacco. Abiotic stresses are major environmental factors that constraint crop productivity worldwide. Various stimuli regulate intracellular calcium levels and calcium-mediated signal transduction, and cellular responses. Ca2+ signals are perceived by different Ca2+ receptors. Calmodulin-like protein (CML) is one of the best-characterized Ca2+ sensors which shares sequence similarity with highly conserved calmodulin (CaM) ubiquitously expressed in plants. Currently, the molecular and physiological functions of CMLs are largely unknown. In this study, the MsCML46 was characterized in alfalfa (Medicago sativa cv. Zhaodong) under freezing stress. Results showed that MsCML46 was localized to the cytoplasm of Arabidopsis, and its expression was strongly elevated by cold, drought, salt, saline-alkali, and ABA treatments. Overexpressing MsCML46 in tobacco enhanced tolerance to freezing, drought, and salt stresses as evidenced by improved contents of osmotic regulatory solutes and antioxidant enzyme activity but decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation. Furthermore, cold, drought, and salt stresses increased the expression of stress-related genes in transgenic tobacco. MsCML46 binds free Ca2+ to promote signal transduction and maintain higher K+/Na+ ratio. In this way, it protects intracellular homeostasis under sodium ion toxicity. These results suggest that MsCML46 plays a crucial role in resisting abiotic stresses and can be exploited in genetic engineering for crops.

The development of biocompatible Pickering stabilizers for oil-in-water emulsions has attracted fast increasing interests, due to their potential applications in food and pharmaceutical formulations. This work reports that a kind of novel nanoparticles to perform as outstanding Pickering stabilizers can be facilely fabricated from insoluble soybean polysaccharides (ISP) of Okara (a byproduct of soybean processing) by a high power ultrasonication. The ultrasonication resulted in breakdown of polysaccharide-based fibres in the ISP, and subsequently, formation of nanoparticles with sizes of 127–221 nm. The nanoparticles were mainly composed of polysaccharides and proteins, possessing a lower crystallinity of cellulose (relative to ISP) and good interfacial adsorption at oil-water interface. They were demonstrated to exhibit an excellent emulsification performance and a high tendency to form a gel-like network in the Pickering emulsions. Increasing the particle concentration and/or oil volume fraction was favorable for the creaming stability of the emulsions. Most of the droplets in the emulsions at higher particle-to-oil ratios were present in a more flocculated state, which was maintained by the hydrophobic interactions, as well as a bridging particle monolayer (with two droplets sharing the same monolayer). Interestingly, a portion of fine oil droplets with sizes

MsCBL4 expression in tobacco enhanced its salt and saline–alkali stress tolerance by regulating calcium accumulation in roots, indicating the important role of calcium metabolism in plant saline–alkali stress tolerance The calcineurin B–like (CBL) family of proteins play important roles in plant abiotic stress tolerance and signal transduction. CBL4 is known to participate in the Salt Overly Sensitive pathway; however, little is currently known regarding the mechanisms underlying the response of CBL4 to saline–alkali stress. In this study, we cloned and characterized the alfalfa MsCBL4 gene. We found that MsCBL4 showed the highest expression in root tissues and was induced by salt and saline–alkali stress, with the latter causing higher induction. Overexpression of MsCBL4 in tobacco enhanced salt and saline–alkali stress tolerance and reduced the Na+/K+ ratio in roots of transgenic lines. Salt (30 and 300 mM NaCl) and saline–alkali (30 mM NaHCO3) stress assays performed for MsCBL4 transgenic tobacco lines revealed a substantial influx of sodium ions in roots under saline–alkali stress and indicated that the expression of MsCBL4 had little influence on sodium ion content reduction. In contrast, in roots subjected to saline–alkali stress, calcium accumulation occurred and was significantly enhanced by the overexpression of MsCBL4. Physiological and biochemical analyses indicated that MsCBL4 plays an important role in saline–alkali stress tolerance via its influence on the regulation of calcium transport and accumulation. These results provide novel insights into the saline–alkali stress tolerance mechanisms of plants.

Many metals, some of which have been classified as environmental endocrine disruptors, are used extensively in everyday consumer products and are ubiquitous in our living environment. In the present study, we aimed to explore the associations between the prevalence risk of type 2 diabetes and plasma levels of 20 trace elements as well as those of heavy metals in a Han Chinese population.We conducted a case-control study to investigate the associations between plasma concentrations of 20 metals and diabetes in Jiangsu province. A total of 122 newly diagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes and 429 matched controls were recruited from community physical examinations in Suzhou City of Jiangsu Province. Plasma metal levels were measured by inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry.After adjusting for confounders, plasma vanadium, chromium, manganese, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, strontium, palladium, cadmium, cesium, and barium were associated with diabetes risk (P0.05). The adjusted OR increased with increasing concentration of vanadium, manganese, copper, zinc, and cesium.Many metals, including manganese, copper, zinc, arsenic, selenium, and cadmium in plasma, are associated with the morbidity of diabetes. Monitoring of environmental metal levels and further studies are urgently needed.

This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of pesticide poisoning in Jiangsu Province, China, and to provide a scientific basis for developing effective interventional measures and preventive strategies. From 2006 to 2015, a total of 35,308 cases of pesticide poisoning were reported in Jiangsu Province. Non-occupational poisoning accounted for 73.79% of all poisoning cases. A comparison of the data collected before (2006) and after (2015) this study showed a decrease in non-occupational pesticide poisoning. Pesticide poisoning showed an age central tendency of 30 to 44 years, area central tendency for northern Jiangsu, and seasonal central tendency of occupational pesticide poisoning in autumn. Pesticide poisoning remains a major health concern in China. Government agencies together with scientists should focus their efforts on the prevention of potential threats to vulnerable groups such as the elderly, women, and children.

Red-emitting CdTe@SrSO4 composites phosphors have been successfully fabricated via a two-step precipitation and following electrostatic assembly process. By adjusting the molar ratio of [Sr2+]/[SO42−], the morphologies of SrSO4 products vary from rods to rhombs with the increasing thickness, and comparative luminescence properties and phase formation mechanism of as-prepared CdTe@SrSO4 composites have been investigated. The CdTe@SrSO4 composites with a rod-like shape show optimum luminescence properties, as well as relatively good thermal stability. White LED prototype based on the CdTe@SrSO4 composites has been fabricated, and a CIE coordinate of (0.400, 0.389), the correlated color temperature (CCT) of 3600 K, and color rendering index (CRI) of 94.3 can be achieved. The results indicate that CdTe@SrSO4 composites may have potential in phosphor-converted white LEDs.

Xylanase has a wide range of potential biotechnological applications in pulp and bleaching processes, textile industries, food and bread making, fruit juice clarification and so on. In order to explore and utilize xylanases using actinomycetes, collected dozens of soil samples beneath decaying wood or leaf debris of different parts of China, 102 xylanase producing actinomycetes were isolated by plate screening with home-made corncob xylan as the sole carbon source. All strains degraded xylan and produced evident xylan hydrolyzed circles. 37 actinomycetes were selected by shake flask cultivation, and among them 7 stains with high producing xylanase were submerged fermentation again. Xylanase activities of 7 strains except L1904 (158U/ml) were all beyond 200U/ml and stable. L2001 as the most promising strain, xylanolytic activity of which was 815U/ml. The project set up foundation for the further study in the future.

A novel and simple sensor is developed in this paper for melamine detection, which is based on an electropolymerized molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) of para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA). The poly(para-aminobenzoic acid) (P-pABA) film was deposited in a pABA solution by potentiodynamic cycling of potential with and without the template (melamine) on a glassy carbon electrode. The surface feature of the modified electrode was characterized by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). The molecular imprinted sensor was tested by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) to verify the changes in redox peak currents of hexacyanoferrate. Several important parameters controlling the performance of the P-pABA were investigated and optimized. In the optimal conditions, the relative redox peak currents of hexacyanoferrate were linear. The concentration of melamine ranged from 4.0 μM to 0.45 mM, with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.9992. The detection limit was 0.36 μM (S/N = 3). The MIP sensor was successfully applied to the determination of melamine in milk products and showed high selectivity, sensitivity, and reproducibility. The results of this research demonstrate that it is feasible to use the molecular imprinting methodology when preparing sensing devices for analytes that are electrochemically inactive.

Ochratoxin A (OTA) poses a serious health hazard throughout the world and is often reported in food commodities. At present, biological approaches to detoxifying OTA are now widely considered to be the most promising methods.In this study, a strain that was identified as Aspergillus niger was isolated, and it has a strong ability to detoxify OTA. The degradation product (compound 1) of OTA was treated with crude enzyme. The product has been isolated and identified as CThis study indicates that A. niger has the ability to detoxify OTA. The OTA degradation product, ochratoxin α, does not exert cytotoxic effects on cell metabolism. A. niger has prospective uses for the OTA decontamination of food and agricultural fields. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

To investigate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of paraoxonase-2 (PON2) gene and the susceptibility to occupational noise-induced deafness among Chinese Han population exposed to high noise levels [85 dB (A)].A case-control study was conducted in Chinese Han population exposed to high noise levels. The subjects were divided into case group (n = 127) and control group (n = 136) according to the Diagnostic criteria of occupational noise-induced deafness (GBZ 49-2007). The case group was composed of 127 workers with a mean binaural high-frequency hearing threshold not less than 40 dB, as measured using an electro-audiometer, while the control group was composed of 136 workers with a mean binaural high-frequency hearing threshold less than 40 dB, as measured using the electro-audiometer, who were on shift in the same position as the cases and matched with them for age, sex, and years of noise exposure. Peripheral venous blood (2 ml) was collected from each subject during physical examination to extract genomic DNA, and genotypes were identified using a TaqMan probe.PON2 genotypes rs7493 CG+GG, rs7785846 CT+TT, rs12026 CG+GG, and rs7786401 GT+TT were the risk factors for occupational noise-induced deafness, and the adjusted odds ratios (95%confidence intervals) were 5.87 (3.11∼11.07), 5.92 (3.10∼11.32), 5.53 (2.93∼10.45), and 5.93 (3.10∼11.34), respectively. In addition, the higher the noise exposure levels, the higher the risk of developing occupational noise-induced deafness among the individuals carrying mutant genotypes.PON2 genotypes rs7493 CG+GG, rs7785846 CT+TT, rs12026 CG+GG, and rs7786401 GT +TT may be associated with the susceptibility to occupational noise-induced deafness among Chinese Han population exposed to high noise levels, and the effects of mutant genotypes and noise exposure levels may be mutually enhanced.