Recent years have witnessed ever expanding use of biosensors in the fields of environmental monitoring, homeland security, pharmaceutical, food and bioprocessing, and agricultural industries. To produce effective and reliable biosensors, good quality immobilization of biological recognition elements is critical. Chitosan and its nanocomposites emerge as an excellent immobilization matrix on biosensor surface. As a natural polysaccharide, chitosan has many useful characteristics, such as high permeability and mechanical strength, biocompatibility and non‐toxicity, availability, and low cost. Due to the presence of amino and hydroxyl groups on chitosan, chitosan can easily crosslink with a variety of nanomaterials. This investigation of chitosan nanocomposite‐based biosensors presents recent development and innovations in the preparation of chitosan nanocomposites in coordination with biosensors for various bio‐detection applications, including chitosan nanocomposites formed with carbon nanomaterials, various inorganic and biological complexes. These chitosan nanocomposite based biosensors have demonstrated good sensitivity selectivity and stability for the detection of different types of targets ranging from glucose, proteins, DNAs, small biomolecules to bacteria. It is in our hope that this review will offer guidance for the development of novel biosensors and open up opportunities in the field of biosensor research.

Background and Purpose Treatment with a selective proteasome inhibitor, VELCADE, in combination with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) extended the therapeutic window to 6 hours in young rats after stroke. However, stroke is a major cause of death and disability in the elderly. The present study investigated the effect of VELCADE in combination with a low-dose tPA on aged rats after embolic stroke. Methods Male Wistar rats at the age of 18 to 20 months were treated with VELCADE (0.2 mg/kg) alone, a low-dose tPA (5 mg/kg) alone, combination of VELCADE and tPA, or saline 2 hours after embolic middle cerebral artery occlusion. To test the contribution of endothelial nitric oxide synthase to VELCADE-mediated neuroprotection, endothelial nitric oxide synthase knockout and wild-type mice were treated with VELCADE (0.5 mg/kg) 2 hours after embolic stroke. Results Treatment with VELCADE significantly reduced infarct volume, whereas tPA alone did not reduce infarct volume and aggravated blood–brain barrier disruption in aged rats compared with saline-treated rats. However, the combination treatment significantly enhanced the reduction of infarct volume, which was associated with an increase in endothelial nitric oxide synthase activity compared with saline-treated rats. Additionally, the combination treatment promoted thrombolysis and did not increase the incidence of hemorrhage transformation. VELCADE significantly reduced lesion volume in wild-type mice but failed to significantly reduce lesion volume in endothelial nitric oxide synthase knockout mice. Conclusions Treatment with VELCADE exerts a neuroprotective effect in aged rats after stroke. The combination of VELCADE with the low-dose tPA further amplifies the neuroprotective effect. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase at least partly contributes to VELCADE-mediated neuroprotection after stroke.

Intensive artificial selection has been imposed in Yunshang black goats, the first black specialist mutton goat breed in China, with a breeding object of improving reproductive performance, which has contributed to reshaping of the genome including the characterization of SNP, ROH and haplotype. However, variation in reproductive ability exists in the present population. A WGS was implemented in two subpopulations (polytocous group, PG, and monotocous group, MG) with evident differences of litter size. Following the mapping to reference genome, and SNP calling and pruning, three approaches-GWAS, ROH analysis and detection of signatures of selectionwere employed to unveil candidate genes responsible for litter size. Consequently, 12 candidate genes containing OSBPL8 with the minimum P-value were uncovered by GWAS. Differences were observed in the pattern of ROH between two subpopulations that shared similar low inbreeding coefficients. Two ROH hotspots and 12 corresponding genes emerged from ROH pool association analysis. Based on the nS L statistic, 15 and 61 promising genes were disclosed under selection for MG and PG respectively. Of them, some promising genes participate in ovarian function (PPP2R5C, CDC25A, ESR1, RPS26 and SERPINBs), seasonal reproduction (DIO3, BTG1 and CRYM) and metabolism (OSBPL8, SLC39A5 and SERPINBs). Our study pinpointed some novel promising genes influencing litter size, provided a comprehensive insight into genetic makeup of litter size and might facilitate selective breeding in goats.

Six new prenylated indole diketopiperazine alkaloids, asperthrins A–F (1–6), along with eight known analogues (7–14), were isolated from the marine-derived endophytic fungus Aspergillus sp. YJ191021. Their planar structures and absolute configurations were elucidated by HR-ESI-MS, 1D/2D NMR data, and time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT)/ECD calculation. The isolated compounds were assayed for their inhibition against three agricultural pathogenic fungi, four fish pathogenic bacteria, and two agricultural pathogenic bacteria. Compound 1 exhibited moderate antifungal and antibacterial activities against Vibrioanguillarum, Xanthomonas oryzae pv. Oryzicola, and Rhizoctoniasolani with minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 8, 12.5, and 25 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, 1 displayed notable anti-inflammatory activity with IC50 value of 1.46 ± 0.21 μM in Propionibacteriumacnes induced human monocyte cell line (THP-1).

Hierarchically porous materials are believed one of the most promising matrix materials due to their unique multimodal pore structures and great application potentials in catalysis, separation, and biomedicine. In this article, a series of hierarchically porous silica nanospheres with adjustable morphologies and pore structures/sizes has been successfully developed by controlling the electrostatic interaction-induced interfacial self-assembly behaviors between anionic block copolymer polystyrene-b-poly­(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA), cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, and tetraethyl orthosilicate. Especially, “embedded” structured dual-mesoporous silica nanospheres (E-DMSNs) containing connected large mesopores (>10 nm) and abundant small mesopores (2–3 nm) in the large-pore framework have been prepared for the first time. Moreover, by employing PS-b-PAA with shorter PAA block lengths as template, the morphology conversion of porous silica nanospheres from core–shell structured dual-mesoporous silica nanospheres to well-defined hollow mesoporous silica nanospheres has been achieved. To endow the capability of E-DMSNs as multidrug delivery vehicles, a spatially selective functionalization strategy has been adopted to obtain dual-functionalized E-DMSNs (E-DMSNs-NH2/OH) with amino-functionalized large mesopores and hydroxyl-modified small mesopores. Thermogravimetric-differential scanning calorimetry analysis shows that the loading amount of curcumin (Cur) and doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) were about 3.4% and 10.0% in weight, respectively. In addition, the cytotoxicity assay and cellular uptake of DOX@Cur@E-DMSNs-NH2/OH on SMMC-7721 cells (human hepatoma cells) have been investigated. Thus, such a simple methodology to synthesize hierarchically porous silica with adjustable morphologies, pore sizes, and pore modifications provides a new pathway for the rational design of antitumor multidrug nanocarriers in further cancer treatment.

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The litter size of domestic goats and sheep is an economically important trait that shows variation within breeds. Strenuous efforts have been made to understand the genetic mechanisms underlying prolificacy in goats and sheep. However, there has been a paucity of research on the genetic convergence of prolificacy between goats and sheep, which likely arose because of similar natural and artificial selection forces. Here, we performed comparative genomic and transcriptomic analyses to identify the genetic convergence of prolificacy between goats and sheep. By combining genomic and transcriptomic data for the first time, we identified this genetic convergence in (1) positively selected genes (CHST11 and SDCCAG8), (2) differentially expressed genes (SERPINA14, RSAD2, and PPIG at follicular phase, and IGF1, GPRIN3, LIPG, SLC7A11, and CHST15 at luteal phase), and (3) biological pathways (genomic level: osteoclast differentiation, ErbB signaling pathway, and relaxin signaling pathway; transcriptomic level: the regulation of viral genome replication at follicular phase, and protein kinase B signaling and antigen processing and presentation at luteal phase). These results indicated the potential physiological convergence and enhanced our understanding of the overlapping genetic makeup underlying litter size in goats and sheep.