The analysis of biological information from protein sequences is important for the study of cellular functions and interactions, and protein fold recognition plays a key role in the prediction of protein structures. Unfortunately, the prediction of protein fold patterns is challenging due to the existence of compound protein structures. Here, we processed the latest release of the Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP, version 1.75) database and exploited novel techniques to impressively increase the accuracy of protein fold classification. The techniques proposed in this paper include ensemble classifying and a hierarchical framework, in the first layer of which similar or redundant sequences were deleted in two manners; a set of base classifiers, fused by various selection strategies, divides the input into seven classes; in the second layer of which, an analogous ensemble method is adopted to predict all protein folds. To our knowledge, it is the first time all protein folds can be intelligently detected hierarchically. Compared with prior studies, our experimental results demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of our proposed method, which achieved a success rate of 74.21%, which is much higher than results obtained with previous methods (ranging from 45.6% to 70.5%). When applied to the second layer of classification, the prediction accuracy was in the range between 23.13% and 46.05%. This value, which may not be remarkably high, is scientifically admirable and encouraging as compared to the relatively low counts of proteins from most fold recognition programs. The web server Hierarchical Protein Fold Prediction (HPFP) is available at http://datamining.xmu.edu.cn/software/hpfp.

Research on the mechanism for early development of shellfish, such as body plan, shell formation, settlement and metamorphosis is currently an active research field. However, studies were still limited and not deep enough because of the lack of genomic resources such as genome or transcriptome sequences. In the present research, de novo transcriptome sequencing was performed for Crassostrea angulata, the most economically important cultured oyster species in China, at eight early developmental stages using the 454 sequencing technology. A total of 555,215 reads were produced with an average length of 309 nucleotides that were then assembled into 10,462 contigs. As determined by GO annotation and KEGG pathway mapping, functional annotation of the unigenes recovered diverse biological functions and processes. Six unique sequences related to settlement, metamorphosis and growth were subsequently analyzed by real-time PCR. Given the lack of whole genome information for oysters, transcriptome and de novo analysis of C. angulata from the eight different developing phases will provide important and useful information on early development mechanism and help genetic breeding of shellfish.

The study aimed to provide the anatomic data for puncture of foramen ovale cranium in oral cavity. We scan 100 volunteers' skull on computed tomography who have no lesion of skull base, of which the images were for three-dimensional reconstruction. The following observations and measurements were carried out: the shape, size of foramen ovale cranium, and the angle and length of puncture line. The results we got are the following: foramen ovale cranium appears as oval, kidney shape, round, pear shape, and strip shape. Foramen ovale diameter is 8.20 ± 1.54 mm, and width is 4.08 ± 0.73 mm for men and 4.23 ± 0.79 mm for female. The distance from the center of foramen ovale to the maxillary second molar is 51.65 mm for male and 48.77 mm for female. The puncture line is from the center of foramen ovale to the maxillary second molar. The angle of the puncture line with the vertical plane, which is through the midpoint of supraorbital margin and the infraorbital margin, is 40.27 degrees for men and 37.31 degrees for women. The angle of the puncture line with the horizontal plane is 49.37 degrees for men and 52.26 degrees for women. The angle of the puncture line with the sagittal plane is 3.78 degrees. All data between the left and right sides have no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05), but the diameter, the length of the puncture, and the angle of puncture line with the horizontal and vertical have significant differences on sex (P < 0.01). The anatomic character of the foramen ovale cranium has important value on the accuracy of puncture for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.

Our study aim was to evaluate the initial position accurately and the direction of infraorbital canal approximately by analyzing the parameters of infraorbital canal. This study was based on 64-slice computed tomographic multiple planar reconstruction technique and can improve the success rate of infraorbital nerve blockade. The following observations and measurements were carried out in 224 normal infraorbital canals (112 people): the length, angle, and adjoined relations of initial infraorbital canal, to reveal the anatomic characteristics of the canals and to compare the difference between left and right or male and female. Six indicators were measured: (1) the length of initial infraorbital canal; (2) the distance between skin and the first obvious turn of infraorbital canal along the direction of initial infraorbital canal (the depth of puncture); (3) the vertical distance between infraorbital canal and nasal septum; (4) the vertical distance between infraorbital canal and infraorbital rim; (5) the angle between the infraorbital canal and the Frankfort plane; and (6) the angle between the infraorbital canal and the sagittal plane. The difference was statistically significant between 2 sides on the depth of puncture. For other values, the differences between left and right and between women and men were of no statistical significance.

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Background/objectiveIt has been reported that CD40 rs1883832 might be associated with immune-related diseases susceptibility. Owing to mixed and inconclusive results, we conducted a meta-analysis of case–control studies to summarize and clarify this association.Methods/main resultsA systematic search of studies on the association between CD40 rs1883832 and immune-related diseases susceptibility was conducted in databases. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were used to pool the effect size. 40 articles were included in our meta-analysis.ConclusionsCD40 rs1883832 is associated with decreased risk of Graves’ disease, especially in Asian; CD40 rs1883832 is associated with increased risk of multiple sclerosis; CD40 -1C>T (rs1883832) is not associated with the susceptibility of Hashimoto's thyroiditis, systemic sclerosis or Asthma; there is insufficient data to fully confirm the association between CD40 rs1883832 and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Behçet's disease (BD), myasthenia gravis (MG), Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), Sarcoidosis, Fuch uveitis syndrome (FUS), Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome (VKH), Kawasaki disease (KD), giant cell arteritis (GCA) or Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).

Chinese buffalo is of swamp type, mainly distributed in countryside of 18 provinces in southern China. China has the third population of buffalo in the world. There are 22.75 million buffaloes in China in 2005, representing 17.37% of all cattle in the whole country. Historically Chinese buffalo is mainly used for drought since their milk production is very low with an annual milk yield of 500-700 kg. Therefore, it is important to improve them to change into dairy buffalo through crossbreeding with exotic river type dairy buffalo breeds. Murrah and Nili-Ravi, the most famous river type dairy buffalo breeds in the world, were introduced from India and Pakistan in 1957 and 1974, respectively and used to crossbreed with indigenous Chinese buffalo for genetic improvement. The effect is very prominent that the performance of crossbred has been improved significantly after several decades and the milk yield reaches 1200-2000 kg. Recent years in countryside of China, buffalo rearing has been changed from extensive and dispersive model in the past into specialized small or medium dairy herd model for the present along with the rapid development of dairy buffalo breeding and the model of dairy buffalo breeding sub-district has been formed. This article introduces briefly that the system of dairy buffalo breeding as well as producing, processing and selling of buffalo milk under the current condition and the prospects of dairy buffalo development in countryside of China

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