Background: Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a subtype of stroke with a severe high mortality and disability rate and accounts for about 10-15% of all strokes. The oppression and destruction by hematoma to brain tissue cause the primary brain injury. The inflammation and coagulation response after ICH would accelerate the formation of brain edema around hematoma, resulting in a more severe and durable injury. Currently, treatments for ICH are focusing on the primary injury including reducing intracranial hypertension, blood pressure control, and rehabilitation. There is a short-of-effective medical treatment for secondary inflammation and reducing brain edema in ICH patients. So, it is very important to study on the relationship between brain edema and ICH. Summary: Many molecular and cellular mechanisms contribute to the formation and progress of brain edema after ICH; inhibition of brain edema provides favorable outcome of ICH. Key Messages: This review mainly discusses the pathology and mechanism of brain edema, the effects of brain edema on ICH, and the methods of treating brain edema after ICH.

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A multiple xylanase system with high levels of xylanase activity produced from Penicillium oxalicum GZ-2 using agricultural waste as a substrate has been previously reported. However, the eco-physiological properties and origin of the multiplicity of xylanases remain unclear. In the present study, eight active bands were detected using zymography, and all bands were identified as putative xylanases using MALDI-TOF-MS/MS. These putative xylanases are encoded by six different xylanase genes. To evaluate the functions and eco-physiological properties of xylanase genes, xyn10A, xyn11A, xyn10B and xyn11B were expressed in Pichia pastoris. The recombinant enzymes xyn10A and xyn10B belong to the glycoside hydrolase (GH) family 10 xylanases, while xyn11A and xyn11B belong to GH11 xylanases. Biochemical analysis of the recombinant proteins revealed that all enzymes exhibited xylanase activity against xylans but with different substrate specificities, properties and kinetic parameters. These results demonstrated that the production of multiple xylanases in P. oxalicum GZ-2 was attributed to the genetic redundancy of xylanases and the post-translational modifications, providing insight into a more diverse xylanase system for the efficient degradation of complex hemicelluloses.

Chorea-ballism is a rare movement disorder characterized by irregular, poorly patterned, and involuntary movements, which are usually unilateral but may be bilateral or involve the extremities. The most common metabolic cause of transient chorea-ballism is nonketotic or ketotic hyperglycemia (NKHG or KHG, respectively). A meta-analysis and several reviews have identified clinical characteristics of NKHG-associated chorea-ballism; however, the characteristics of KHG-associated chorea-ballism remain unknown. We performed a search for studies of patients with KHG-associated chorea-ballism, published in MEDLINE between 1960 and May 2014, and identified 13 studies of 15 patients. Despite the limited number of cases, we identified some significant differences in the clinical and radiological characteristics between patients with KHG- or NKHG-induced chorea-ballism. Patients with KHG were significantly younger than patients with NKHG, and a higher percentage of patients with KHG had atypical or negative brain imaging findings for chorea-ballism compared to patients with NKHG. We recommend that blood glucose levels be tested on admission as a key diagnostic measure, to improve the early diagnosis of chorea-ballism. The best treatment for KHG-induced chorea-ballism is rapid glucose control with an insulin drip and, possibly, neuroleptics. The mechanisms of the disease are unclear, although the GABA theory, cerebrovascular insufficiency, and alterations of dopaminergic activity in the striatum might play important roles.

Protein nanocages are promising multifunctional platforms for nanomedicine owing to the ability to decorate their surfaces with multiple functionalities through genetic and/or chemical modification to achieve desired properties for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Here, we describe a model antigen (OVA peptide) that was conjugated to the surface of a naturally occurring hepatitis B core protein nanocage (HBc NC) by genetic modification. The engineered OVA-HBc nanocages (OVA-HBc NCs), displaying high density repetitive array of epitopes in a limited space by self-assembling into symmetrical structure, not only can induce bone marrow derived dendritic cells (BMDC) maturation effectively but also can be enriched in the draining lymph nodes. Nai ̈ve C57BL/6 mice immunized with OVA-HBc NCs are able to generate significant and specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses. Moreover, OVA-HBc NCs as a robust nanovaccine can trigger preventive antitumor immunity and significantly delay tumor growth. When combined with a low-dose chemotherapy drug (paclitaxel), OVA-HBc NCs could specifically inhibit progression of an established tumor. Our findings support HBc-based nanocages with modularity and scalability as an attractive nanoplatform for combination cancer immunotherapy.

BackgroundEndo-1,4-β-mannanase is an enzyme that can catalyze the random hydrolysis of β-1, 4-mannosidic linkages in the main chain of mannans, glucomannans and galactomannans and has a number of applications in different biotechnology industries. Penicillium oxalicum is a powerful hemicellulase-producing fungus (Bioresour Technol 123:117-124, 2012); however, few previous studies have focused on the cloning and expression of the endo-1,4-β-mannanase gene from Penicillium oxalicum.ResultsA gene encoding an acidophilic thermostable endo-1,4-β-mannanase (E.C. 3.2.1.78) from Penicillium oxalicum GZ-2, which belongs to glycoside hydrolase family 5, was cloned and successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris GS115. A high enzyme activity (84.4 U mL−1) was detected in the culture supernatant. The recombinant endo-1,4-β-mannanase (rPoMan5A) was tagged with 6 × His at its C-terminus and purified using a Ni-NTA Sepharose column to apparent homogeneity. The purified rPoMan5A showed a single band on SDS-PAGE with a molecular mass of approximately 61.6 kDa. The specific activity of the purified rPoMan5A was 420.9 U mg−1 using locust bean gum as substrate. The optimal catalytic temperature (10 min assay) and pH value for rPoMan5A are 80°C and pH 4.0, respectively. The rPoMan5A is highly thermostable with a half-life of approximately 58 h at 60°C at pH 4.0. The Km and Vmax values for locust bean gum, konjac mannan, and guar gum are 7.6 mg mL−1 and 1425.5 μmol min−1 mg−1, 2.1 mg mL−1 and 154.8 μmol min−1 mg−1, and 2.3 mg mL−1 and 18.9 μmol min−1 mg−1, respectively. The enzymatic activity of rPoMan5A was not significantly affected by an array of metal ions, but was inhibited by Fe3+ and Hg2+. Analytical results of hydrolytic products showed that rPoMan5A could hydrolyze various types of mannan polymers and released various mannose and manno-oligosaccharides, with the main products being mannobiose, mannotriose, and mannopentaose.ConclusionOur study demonstrated that the high-efficient expression and secretion of acid stable and thermostable recombinant endo-1, 4-β-mannanase in Pichia pastoris is suitable for various biotechnology applications.

Rice allelopathy is a hot topic in the field of allelopathy, and behaviour of donor allelopathic rice has been well documented. However, few study addresses response of receiver barnyardgrass (BYG). We found that expression of miRNAs relevant to plant hormone signal transduction, nucleotide excision repair and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor and p53 signalling pathways was enhanced in BYG co-cultured with the allelopathic rice cultivar PI312777, the expression levels of these miRNAs in BYG plants were positively correlated with allelopathic potential of the co-cultured rice varieties. Treatment of BYG plants with rice-produced phenolic acids also increased miRNA expression in BYG, while treatment with rice-produced terpenoids had no obvious effect on miRNA expression. In the hydroponic system, the largest number of Myxococcus sp. was found in the growth medium containing rice with the highest allelopathic potential. The addition of phenolic acids in the hydroponic medium also increased the number of Myxococcus sp. More interestingly, inoculation with Myxococcus xanthus significantly increased miRNA expression in the treated BYG. Jointed treatments of ferulic acid and M. xanthus led to strongest growth inhibition of BYG. The results suggest that there exist involvement of Myxococcus sp. and mediation of miRNA expression in rice allelopathy against BYG.

Low temperature is one of the major abiotic stresses which severely affects the productivity and the geographical distribution of rice (Oryza sativa). Silicon is considered a broad spectrum alleviator to combat stress in rice plant. Rice root absorbs silicon by a silicon transporter, Low silicon gene 1 (Lsi1). To gain a better understanding of cold stress responses triggered by overexpression of Lsi1 in rice (Oryza sativa L.), we carried out physiological and molecular studies between Lsi1-overexpression Dular (Lsi1-D) and its wild type (WD). Two leaf stage rice seedlings of above mentioned both lines were treated at 15°C/12°C (day/night) for 7 days. WD seedling leaves were turned comparatively yellow as compared to Lsi1-D seedlings. Microscopic studies showed significantly more deposition of silicon bodies in epidermal cells of Lsi1-D leaf seedlings in comparison with WD leaves. Lsi1-D leaves comparatively, depicted more SOD, POD and CAT activity, chlorophyll a, b contents in consistency with more silicon concentration. Protein extraction was carried out from whole seedling of both lines and further analyzed by tandem mass tag quantitative proteomics approach with double replicates. Among 393 reproducible proteins, 63 were up-regulated and 39 proteins were down-regulated. The total cold responsive differential proteins were involved in several processes, i.e. photosynthesis, signal transduction, redox homeostasis, hormone metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, cell wall organization, N-assimilation, protein processing and secondary metabolism. We confirmed up-regulation of key proteins involved in cold-responsive pathway at mRNA level through qPCR such as chlorophyll a-b binding protein 1, peroxidase 2, signaling G-proteins RIC1, aquaporin PIP1.2, 1, 4-alphaglucan branching enzyme, germin-like protein subfamily 2 member 4 and germin-like protein subfamily 8 member 2. In conclusion, our study provides new insights into cold stress responses in rice seedlings triggered by Lsi1-overexpression defense pathway.