The degradation of thirteen flavonoid aglycones-wogonin, diosmetin, hesperetin, baicalein, morin, genistein, daidzein, quercetin, naringenin, luteolin, kaempferol, apigenin and neophellamuretin-were investigated in rabbit, rat and human fecal flora suspensions as well as in artificial intestinal juice, using high performance liquid chromatography. Separation were performed with a Cosmosil 5C(18)-AR II column by isocratic and gradient elution with 0.1% (v/v) phosphoric acid-acetonitrile as a mobile phase, and detected at 254 nm. The flow rate was 1.0 ml/min. 5,7-Dimethoxycoumarin was used as the internal standard. The result indicated that all flavonoid aglycones except baicalein, diosmetin and quercetin were quite stable in artificial intestinal juice, whereas all were degraded in rabbit, rat and human feces suspension. In rabbit feces, wogonin, diosmetin and hesperetin were less degraded, whereas neophellamuretin, apigenin, kaempferol, luteolin, and naringenin were the most extensively degraded. In rat feces, wogonin and diosmetin were least degraded, whereas kaempferol, quercetin, genistein, luteolin, naringenin and neophellamuretin were extensively degraded. As in human feces, wogonin, daidzein and diosmetin were less degraded, whereas morin, genistein, baicalein, and quercetin were extensively degraded. In conclusion, wogonin and diosmetin were among the less degraded ones for all three feces tested. The presence of a methoxy group on the A or B ring of the flavonoid seems to protect the structure from bacterial degradation.

This study demonstrated that MDS and colorectal cancer were the most common hematologic malignancy and malignant solid neoplasm associated with BD, respectively. Gastrointestinal involvement is likely to be a risk factor for BD patients to develop malignancy. Further studies will be required to ascertain the pathogenic link between these two entities.

Laser micromachining is becoming a common method for fabrication of microstructured medical devices. Developments in pulsed laser technology have made it possible to achieve precision machining of sub-micrometer features with minimal damage to the surrounding material. Several aspects of laser micromachining, including machining methods, types of lasers used in micromachining, and laser-material interaction, are discussed in this article. Biomedical applications of laser micromachining are also reviewed. The ablation behavior of silicon was examined as a function of laser energy, aperture, and repetition rate. In vitro studies showed that microscale grooves on silicon substrates may be used to orient human aortic vascular smooth muscle cells. We anticipate that the use of laser micromachining for modifying medical and dental devices will become more signifi cant over the coming years.

BackgroundCD8+ T cells participate in airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) and allergic pulmonary inflammation that are characteristics of asthma. CXCL10 by binding to CXCR3 expressed preferentially on activated CD8+ T cells, attracts T cells homing to the lung. We studied the contribution and limitation of CXCR3 to AHR and airway inflammation induced by ovalbumin (OVA) using CXCR3 knockout (KO) mice.MethodsMice were sensitized and challenged with OVA. Lung histopathological changes, AHR, cellular composition and levels of inflammatory mediators in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, and lungs at mRNA and protein levels, were compared between CXCR3 KO mice and wild type (WT) mice.ResultsCompared with the WT controls, CXCR3 KO mice showed less OVA-induced infiltration of inflammatory cells around airways and vessels, and less mucus production. CXCR3 KO mice failed to develop significant AHR. They also demonstrated significantly fewer CD8+ T and CD4+ T cells in BAL fluid, lower levels of TNFα and IL-4 in lung tissue measured by real-time RT-PCR and in BAL fluid by ELISA, with significant elevation of IFNγ mRNA and protein expression levels.ConclusionsWe conclude that CXCR3 is crucial for AHR and airway inflammation by promoting recruitment of more CD8+ T cells, as well as CD4+ T cells, and initiating release of proinflammatory mediators following OVA sensitization and challenge. CXCR3 may represent a novel therapeutic target for asthma.

Exercise training is often considered the cornerstone of nonpharmacological therapy for postmenopausal hypertension while aerobic exercise is the mainstay of life style modification for antihypertension. Moderate-intensity aerobic exercise is well tolerated on most days of the week by most people with postmenopausal hypertension and is not suspected to detract from exercise adherence. That being said, moderate aerobic exercise may be superior for eliciting cardiovascular benefits in hypertensive postmenopausal women and resistance exercise may offer desirable benefits. The beneficial outcomes of exercise training for hypertensive postmenopausal women include improvements in blood pressure, autonomic tone, baroreflex sensitivity, oxidative stress, nitric oxide (NO), bioavailability, and lipid profiles, as well as cardiovascular function and cardiorespiratory fitness. This partly explains the fact that exercise training programs have a positive effect for cardiovascular disease in hypertensive postmenopausal women. This review is to collect and present the literature of exercise training in postmenopausal hypertension. Our review may provide the current understanding of beneficial effects and mechanisms of exercise intervention for prevention and treatment of stage 1 to 2 hypertensive postmenopausal women.

The facile synthesis, structural characterization, and catalytic studies for CO2/epoxide coupling of nickel acetates based on carbazolide-bis­(NHC) (NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene) were reported. Treatment of 3,6-di-tert-butyl-1,8-bis­(3-alkylimidazolium-1-yl)­carbazole salt proligands (bis­(R-Im-X)­Cz, R = benzyl (Bn), n-butyl ( n Bu), methyl (Me), X = Br or I) with nickel acetate tetrahydrate in the presence of excess triethylamine generated monomeric four-coordinate nickel complexes [(bis­(R-Im)­Cz)­Ni­(OAc)] (R = Bn (3), R = n Bu (4), and R = Me (5)). Single-crystal X-ray diffraction of Ni complexes 4 and 5 indicates that the bis­(NHC)-carbazolide fragment behaves as a CNC-tridentate pincer ligand to coordinate the metal center, and the ancillary acetate group assumes a terminal acetate bonding mode. Catalysis for coupling of carbon dioxide with cyclohexene oxide (CHO) by these carbazolide-bis­(NHC)-ligated Ni complexes was systematically examined. Experimental results displayed that cycloaddition of CHO and CO2 catalyzed with complex 4 could give cyclohexene carbonate (CHC) with >99% cis-isomer selectivity on using low catalyst concentrations and high reaction temperature, whereas catalyst 3 was able to copolymerize CHO and CO2 to afford a narrowly dispersed and perfectly alternating poly­(cyclohexene carbonate) (PCHC) as the major product at the higher catalyst loadings and lower copolymerization temperature. This is the first time that the air-stable bis­(NHC)-carbazolide nickel­(II) acetate is an effective and versatile catalyst for the formation of either biodegradable PCHCs or cis-CHCs.

To solve the problems of measuring the growth rates of microorganisms from optical density (OD)-growth time plots, we used relative-density (RD) plots. The relationship of OD and RD was built from the diluted grown cultures. This method was satisfactorily applied to study the growth of Escherichia coli and the cyanobacterium Anabaena spiroides.In spite of the popularity of the optical density (OD) method, the direct use of OD records of liquid cultures of microorganisms to study their growth kinetics may yield problematic results. For instance, for an Escherichia coli culture, the cell doubling time as derived from incremental OD rates varies from 46 to 38 min, depending on the wavelength of light used for measurement (Fig. 1A). Here, we report an approach to obtain more reliable results (Fig. 1B). Briefly, the OD of the liquid cell culture is recorded frequently throughout the growth period. At or near the end of cultivation, the cell density of the culture is arbitrarily defined as a relative density (RD) of 1.0, and aliquots of the culture are diluted to prepare reference samples of various RD values. For example, a reference sample of 0.3 RD is prepared by diluting 0.3 ml of grown cell culture with 0.7 ml of fresh growth medium. The ODs of the reference samples are also determined and plotted against the RD values to construct an OD-RD calibration curve using the equation OD ϭ m ϫ RD/(n ϩ RD), where m and n are empirical constants (Fig. 1B). The recorded ODs of the cell culture are converted into RD values, and the cell doubling time is determined from the RD-growth time plot (Fig. 1C). We determined the growth rates of E. coli bacteria and Anabaena spiroides cyanobacteria (Fig. 2) using this method. We found that a common laboratory E. coli strain, BL21(DE3), doubled every 31 Ϯ 3 min (mean Ϯ 1 standard deviation [SD]) (Fig. 1C), irrespective of the light wavelength used for measurement, consistent with the incremental rate of the absolute density (AD; CFU/ml) of the E. coli cells (32 Ϯ 4 min) (Fig. 1C). Furthermore, the growth rates obtained from RD-time plots and OD-time plots were statistically different (t test P values were Ͻ Ͻ0.05 for RDs versus ODs with wavelengths used). We also found that E. coli DH5␣, another common E.

BackgroundTransgenic animals have become valuable tools for both research and applied purposes. The current method of gene transfer, microinjection, which is widely used in transgenic mouse production, has only had limited success in producing transgenic animals of larger or higher species. Here, we report a linker based sperm-mediated gene transfer method (LB-SMGT) that greatly improves the production efficiency of large transgenic animals.ResultsThe linker protein, a monoclonal antibody (mAb C), is reactive to a surface antigen on sperm of all tested species including pig, mouse, chicken, cow, goat, sheep, and human. mAb C is a basic protein that binds to DNA through ionic interaction allowing exogenous DNA to be linked specifically to sperm. After fertilization of the egg, the DNA is shown to be successfully integrated into the genome of viable pig and mouse offspring with germ-line transfer to the F1 generation at a highly efficient rate: 37.5% of pigs and 33% of mice. The integration is demonstrated again by FISH analysis and F2 transmission in pigs. Furthermore, expression of the transgene is demonstrated in 61% (35/57) of transgenic pigs (F0 generation).ConclusionsOur data suggests that LB-SMGT could be used to generate transgenic animals efficiently in many different species.