Absidia panacisoli sp. nov., isolated from rhizosphere of Panax notoginseng

A strain (SYPF 7183^T) was isolated from rhizosphere soil of Panax notoginseng in southwest China. Phylogenetic analyses indicated that strain SYPF 7183^T was distinct from the other Absidia species with well-supported values. Strain SYPF 7183^T produced spherical or subpyriform sporangia and short cylindrical sporangiospores. The azygospores were globose to oval. Based on morphological and phylogenetic evidence, the novel strain Absidia panacisoli sp. nov. is proposed.

Indole diterpenoids from the endophytic fungus Drechmeria sp. as natural antimicrobial agents

A fungal strain, Drechmeria sp., was isolated from the root of Panax notoginseng. Totally, seven new indole diterpenoids, drechmerins A-G (1-7), were isolated from the fermentation broth of Drechmeria sp. together with four known analogues (8-11). Their structures were determined on the basis of 1D and 2D NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectroscopic analyses as well as theoretical calculations. All the isolated compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activities against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, B. subtillis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Klebsiella pneumonia, respectively. Drechmerin B (2) displayed antimicrobial activity against C. albicans with an MIC value of 12.5 μg/mL. Molecular docking was used to investigate interactions of peptide deformylase with compounds 1-3, 5-7, 9, and 10.

[Species and ecological control of disease on cultivated Gentiana rigescens in Yunnan]

OBJECTIVE

To find out variety of the fungal diseases of cultivated Gentiana rigescens and provide important basis for prevention.

METHODS

The diseases were diagnosed based on field investigate, symptoms observation, pathogen isolation, determination the size of morphological and verification following the Koch's Postulate procedures.

RESULTS

Anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides), grey mould (Botrytis cinerea), brown spot (Alternaria tenuis), rust (Aecidiumpers), circular spot (Pestalotiopsis), leaf blight (Stemphylium, Ascochyta, Pleospora) and nematodes (Heterodera spp., Meloidogyne spp.) were found on Gentiana rigescens. Anthracnose was the first main disease, the diseased plant rate was over 40% and disease severity was 4 - 5 degree and second disease was rust, incidence of rate was less 10% and other diseases rate was not enough 2%.

CONCLUSION

All these diseases on Gentiana rigescens are reported for the first time and Gentiana rigescens is the new host plant of the diseases.

Chronic IL-1beta signaling potentiates voltage-dependent sodium currents in trigeminal nociceptive neurons

The proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) mediates inflammation and hyperalgesia, although the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. To better understand such molecular and cellular mechanisms, we investigated how IL-1beta modulates the total voltage-dependent sodium currents (INa) and its tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) component in capsaicin-sensitive trigeminal nociceptive neurons, both after a brief (5-min) and after a chronic exposure (24-h) of 20 ng/ml IL-1beta. A brief exposure led to a 28% specific (receptor-mediated) reduction of INa in these neurons, which were found to contain type I IL-1 receptors (IL-1RI+) on both their soma and nerve endings. In marked contrast, after a 24-h exposure, the total sodium current was specifically increased by 67%, without significantly affecting the TTX-R component. This potentiation of INa was suppressed in the presence of selective inhibitors of protein kinase C and G-protein-coupled signaling pathways, thereby suggesting that INa can be modulated through multiple pathways. In summary, the potentiation of INa through chronic IL-1beta signaling in nociceptive sensory neurons may be a critical component of inflammatory-associated hyperalgesia.

Cones of skin occur where hypertrophic scar occurs

Hypertrophic scarring is devastating for the patient, however the pathophysiology and treatment remain unknown after decades of research. The process follows deep dermal injury, occurs only on certain body parts, does not occur in the early fetus or in animals, and is a localized event. This suggests that an anatomic structure in human, deep dermis may be involved. The dermis is a matrix perforated by cones containing many structures including skin appendages and fat domes. We hypothesized that studying the cones might reveal a structure related to scarring. We examined tangential wounds from various body parts on human cadavers along with skin histology from various human body parts, the early fetus, partial thickness burns, hypertrophic scars, and two other species-rats and rabbits. We found that the cones may in fact be the structure. They exist where hypertrophic scar occurs-cheek, neck, chest, abdomen, back, buttock, arm, forearm, dorsal hand, thigh, leg, dorsal foot, helix and ear lobe. They do not exist where hypertrophic scar does not occur-scalp, forehead, concha, eyelid, palm, early fetus, and in rat, or rabbit. It also became apparent that the cones have been omitted from most considerations of skin histology. We suggest that the cones need to be studied in relation to hypertrophic scarring and restored to skin diagrams.

Arterial hemodynamics in human hypertension. Effects of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition

Previous studies have shown some distinct hemodynamic alterations in essential hypertension, including increased resistance, wave reflections, and pulse wave velocity and decreased systemic compliance. These abnormalities are completely normalized by nonspecific smooth muscle dilation with nitroprusside but not by combined alpha- and beta-adrenergic blockade. The renin-angiotensin system, acting possibly via both circulating and local tissue effects, is thought to play an important role in essential hypertension, so its role in the altered hemodynamics deserves careful investigation. A hypertensive patient group was compared with a normotensive group similar in age, body size, and proportion of men and women. During diagnostic cardiac catheterization, ascending aortic micromanometer pressures and electromagnetic flows were measured in the baseline state. Intravenous captopril of a sufficient dosage (11 mg) to normalize blood pressure then was given to the hypertensive patients while measurements were repeated. From the pressures and flows, aortic input impedance, wave reflection magnitude, and compliance were computed. In the hypertensive group, the important hemodynamic alterations consisted of increased peripheral resistance, first zero crossing of aortic impedance phase angle, and wave reflections and decreased systemic compliance. Captopril had a pronounced hemodynamic effect. It normalized blood pressure, resistance, and impedance phase angle zero crossing. Compliance, although increased substantially by captopril, was still slightly lower than normotensive levels. The magnitude of wave reflections, although substantially lowered by angiotensin converting enzyme inhibition, was still persistently greater than normal. The present results, together with those previously reported, demonstrate that a complex interplay of factors underlies the increased smooth muscle tone in essential hypertension.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effective renal plasma flow response and atrial natriuretic peptide in patients with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction

Effective renal plasma flow was determined by using I-131 labeled iodo-ortho-hippurate in 17 Chinese patients admitted to the coronary care unit with uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction. The first determination, immediately after admission, was significantly higher than the second determination done a week later, 444.5 +/- 153.9 vs. 371.1 +/- 124.9 ml/min (p < 0.02). The initial rise of effective renal plasma flow (ERPF) after acute myocardial infarction seemed to be correlated to the initial elevation of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), which was determined sequentially 6 times in each patient (91.3 +/- 39.4, 25.6 +/- 9.7, 37.4 +/- 12.3, 51.8 +/- 18.2, 65.6 +/- 20.8, 57.4 +/- 19.2 pg/ml, respectively). It was concluded that, in the presence of uncomplicated acute myocardial infarction, patients may show renal vasodilatation, and that the elevation of ANP may play some role in this.

Effective arterial elastance as index of arterial vascular load in humans

BACKGROUND

This study tested whether the simple ratio of ventricular end-systolic pressure to stroke volume, known as the effective arterial elastance (Ea), provides a valid measure of arterial load in humans with normal and aged hypertensive vasculatures.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Ventricular pressure-volume and invasive aortic pressure and flow were simultaneously determined in 10 subjects (four young normotensive and six older hypertensive). Measurements were obtained at rest, during mechanically reduced preload, and after pharmacological interventions. Two measures of arterial load were compared: One was derived from aortic input impedance and arterial compliance data using an algebraic expression based on a three-element Windkessel model of the arterial system [Ea(Z)], and the other was more simply measured as the ratio of ventricular end-systolic pressure to stroke volume [Ea(PV)]. Although derived from completely different data sources and despite the simplifying assumptions of Ea(PV), both Ea(Z) and Ea(PV) were virtually identical over a broad range of altered conditions: Ea(PV) = 0.97.Ea(Z) + 0.17; n = 33, r2 = 0.98, SEE = 0.09, p less than 0.0001. Whereas Ea(PV) also correlated with mean arterial resistance, it exceeded resistance by as much as 25% in older hypertensive subjects (because of reduced compliance and wave reflections), which better indexed the arterial load effects on the ventricle. Simple methods to estimate Ea (PV) from routine arterial pressures were tested and validated.

CONCLUSIONS

Ea(PV) provides a convenient, useful method to assess arterial load and its impact on the human ventricle. These results highlight effects of increased pulsatile load caused by aging or hypertension on the pressure-volume loop and indicate that this load and its effects on cardiac performance are often underestimated by mean arterial resistance but are better accounted for by Ea.

Reduced left ventricular compliance in human mitral stenosis. Role of reversible internal constraint

BACKGROUND

The mechanisms of depressed left ventricular (LV) pump performance in human mitral stenosis (MS) remain poorly understood, because reduced filling alone affects many hemodynamic measurements. Therefore, pressure-volume relations were examined in nine subjects with MS and compared with eight age-matched normal controls.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Data were obtained by conductance catheter/micromanometer technique with transient inferior vena cava occlusion used to alter load and generate pressure-volume relations. In a subset of patients (n = 5), data were obtained both acutely and at 3 months (n = 4) after balloon valvuloplasty. MS patients had reduced cardiac output (3.3 +/- 0.9 versus 5.6 +/- 1.7 l/min) and end-diastolic volume (68.0 +/- 6.9 versus 115 +/- 31 ml) versus controls (p less than 0.001), with a mean transvalvular gradient of 14 +/- 6 mm Hg and estimated valve area of 0.6 +/- 0.2 cm2. Systolic function as assessed by the end-systolic pressure-volume relation was virtually the same in MS and control subjects. In contrast, end-diastolic pressure-volume relations in MS were consistently shifted leftward and had an increased slope (lower compliance) at matched pressure ranges (6.5 +/- 3.0 versus 2.2 +/- 0.53 ml/mm Hg at a mean diastolic pressure of 8 mm Hg, p less than 0.001). This change was not a result of reduced LV filling or probably of increased right heart loading. Valvuloplasty acutely returned chamber compliance to near normal, a change that was sustained at 3-month follow-up. Systolic function was little altered at this time.

CONCLUSIONS

These data indicate an impairment of diastolic function in human MS that can be acutely reversed by balloon valvuloplasty. Lowered LV compliance probably results from a functional restriction caused by ventricular attachment to a thickened and immobile valve apparatus.

The mechanism of symptomatic postural hypotension in the elderly

To study the mechanism of symptomatic postural hypotension in the elderly, we collected 11 such patients to further divide them into group 1 with central nervous system (CNS) involvement and group 2 without CNS involvement. Group 1 was the so-called Shy-Drager syndrome, and group 2 was the elderly postural hypotension not secondary to the medications or other systemic diseases. All patients had various degree of autonomic dysfunction and heterogenous defects in the reflex arc of autonomic nervous system (ANS). Both groups also had normal plasma volume but reduced blood volume. Patients in group 1 had normal level of plasma norepinephrine in recumbent posture, but failed to increase normally after standing (p less than 0.05, as compared the percentage rising with that of the controls). Patients in group 2 had near normal level of plasma norepinephrine in recumbent posture and could rise normally after standing. They also had normal level of plasma epinephrine in recumbent posture, but failed to rise normally after standing (p less than 0.05 as compared with the controls). These findings suggested that impaired responsiveness of end organs as blood vessels and adrenal medulla is one of the major causes responsible for the symptomatic postural hypotension in the elderly without CNS involvement.