Cloning and characterization of a blood coagulation factor IX-binding protein from the venom of Trimeresurus stejnegeri

A blood coagulation factor IX-binding protein (TSV-FIX-BP) was isolated from the snake venom of Trimeresurus stejnegeri. On SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, TSV-FIX-BP showed a single band with an apparent molecular weight of 23,000 under non-reducing conditions. and two distinct bands with apparent molecular weights of 14,800 and 14,000 under reducing conditions. cDNA clones containing the coding sequences of TSV-FIX-BP were isolated and sequenced to determine the structure of the precusors of TSV-FIX-BP subunits. The deduced amino acid sequences of two subunits of TSV-FIX-BP were confirmed by N-terminal protein sequencing and trypsin-digested peptide mass fingerprinting. TSV-FIX-BP was a nonenzymatic C-type lectin-like anti-coagulant. The anti-coagulant activity of TSV-FIX-BP was mainly caused by its dose dependent interaction with blood coagulation factor IX but not with blood coagulation factor X. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Molecular cloning and characterization of a platelet glycoprotein Ib-binding protein from the venom of Trimeresurus stejnegeri

A platelet glycoprotein Ib-binding protein, termed TSV-GPIb-BP, was isolated from the venom of Trimeresurus stejnegeri. On SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, TSV-GPIb-BP showed a single band with an apparent molecular weight of 28,000 and two distinct bands with apparent molecular weights of 16,000 and 15,000 under non-reducing and reducing conditions, respectively. cDNA clones containing the coding sequences for both TSV-GPIb-BP subunits were isolated and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequences of TSV-GPIb-BP subunits were confirmed by N-terminal protein sequencing and trypsin-digested peptide mass fingerprinting. Interestingly, the a subunit of TSV-GPIb-BP is identical to that of alboaggregin-B, and the sequence identity of their beta subunits is 94.3%. TSV-GPIb-BP inhibited ristocetin-induced human platelet agglutination in platelet-rich plasma under lower dosages (<5 mug/ml). On the other hand, it directly aggregated washed human platelets in the absence of additional Ca2+ or any other cofactors under higher dosages (>5 mug/ml). This platelet aggregation activity was dose-dependently inhibited by specific GPIbalpha antibodies, but not by those antibodies against platelet GPIa, GPIIa, GPIIb and GPIIIa. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Methylmercury, total mercury and total selenium in four common freshwater fish species from Ya-Er Lake, China

Snakehead fish (Ophiocephalus argus cantor), silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrtix), crucian carp (Carassius carassius), and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) are four common freshwater fish species in China. In this study, the level of methylmercury (MeHg), total mercury (T-Hg), and total selenium (T-Se) in muscle samples of these four fish species from Ya-Er Lake, China, were analyzed using atomic fluorescence spectrometry coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The concentrations of MeHg in all the fish species were significantly correlated with those of T-Hg. Higher T-Hg and MeHg concentrations had accumulated in the snakehead fish, which is a strongly predatory fish, than in the other three species. The concentration ratios of MeHg and T-Hg in the muscles of these four fish species were almost equal. Conversely, there was negative correlation between the concentrations of T-Hg and T-Se, which implies that there is a competition between these two elements with respect to bioaccumulation. It is noteworthy that of all the muscle samples tested, the level of T-Hg exceeded the maximum allowable limit in fish [0.4 mg kg(-1) (w/w) recommended by the World Health Organization] in 38.46% of those of the silver carp, 18.18% of those of the crucian carp, and 100% of those of snakehead fish. These results show that the consumption of contaminated fish is a potential threat to human health and that necessary preventive measures to safeguard public health should be emphasized.

Studies of polysaccharides from three edible species of Nostoc (cyanobacteria) with different colony morphologies: Structural characterization and effect on the complement system of polysaccharides from Nostoc commune

The cyanobacterium Nostoc commune Vaucher produces quite complex extracellular polysaccharides. The cyanobacterium is nitrogen fixing, and on growing the cyanobacterium in media with and without nitrogen, different types of extracellular polysaccharides were obtained. These were also different from the polysaccharides present in N. commune collected in the field. High pH anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC) of weak acid hydrolysates of the culture-grown material demonstrated that, in this case, HPAEC was useful for comparison of the different polymers. The main differences between the polymers from the field group and the culture-grown samples were the presence of substantial amounts of arabinose, 2-O-methylglucose, and glucuronic acid in the latter. Methylation studies also revealed a difference in the branching points on the glucose units between the field and cultured samples, being 1,4,6 for the first and 1,3,6 for the latter. The field acidic fraction gave, on weak acid hydrolysis and separation on BioGel P2 and HPAEC, 12 oligosaccharide fractions that were isolated and studied by different mass spectroscopy techniques. The structures of the oligosaccharides were determined, and two different series that can originate from two repeating pentamers were identified: GlcAl-4/6GlcM1-4Ga11-4Glc1-4Xyl and GlcAl-4/6Glc1-4Ga11-4Glc1-4Xyl. The difference between these oligosaccharides lies in the methyl substituent on carbon 2 of the glucose unit next to the nonreducing glucuronic acid unit. The polysaccharides from field material were shown to have a strong effect on the complement system.

Correlation between optical and electrical properties in In0.52Al0.48As/InxGa1-xAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility-transistor structures on GaAs substrates

4.2 K photoluminescence (PL) and 77 K standard Hall-effect measurements were performed for In0.52Al0.48As/InxGa1-xAs metamorphic high-electron-mobility-transistor (HEMT) structures grown on GaAs substrates with different indium contents in the InxGa1-xAs well or different Si delta-doping concentrations. It was found that electron concentrations increased with increasing PL intensity ratio of the "forbidden" transition (the second electron subband to the first heavy-hole subband) to the sum of the "allowed" transition (the first electron subband to the first heavy-hole subband) and the forbidden transition. And electron mobilities decreased with increasing product of the average full width at half maximum of allowed and forbidden transitions and the electron effective mass in the InxGa1-xAs quantum well. These results show that PL measurements are a good supplemental tool to Hall-effect measurements in optimization of the HEMT layer structure. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Cyclotron-resonance mass of two-dimensional electrons in GaN/AlxGa1-xN heterostructures

The electron cyclotron-resonance (CR) mass of quasi-two-dimensional electrons in GaN/AlxGa1-xN heterostructures is studied theoretically. The correction to the CR mass due to electron-phonon interaction is investigated, taking into account band nonparabolicity, the occupation effect, and the screening of the electron-phonon coupling. The dependence of the CR mass on the electron density and on the magnetic field strength is displayed in detail, and the calculated CR mass agrees well with a recent experiment. We found that the effective electron-phonon coupling strength in GaN heterostructures is reduced below the bulk value.

Production of heavy and superheavy nuclei in massive fusion reactions

Within the framework of a dinuclear system (DNS) model, the evaporation-residue excitation functions and the quasi-fission mass yields in the 48Ca induced fusion reactions are investigated systematically and compared with available experimental data. Maximal production cross sections of superheavy nuclei based on stable actinide targets are obtained. Isotopic trends in the production of the superheavy elements Z = 110, 112–118 based on the actinide isotopic targets are analyzed systematically. Optimal evaporation channels and combinations as well as the corresponding excitation energies are proposed. The possible factors that influencing the isotopic dependence of the production cross sections are analyzed. The formation of the superheavy nuclei based on the isotopes U with different projectiles are also investigated and calculated.

Probing the medium effect and isospin dependence of the in-medium nucleon-nucleon cross section in heavy ion collisions

Probing in-medium nucleon-nucleon (NN) cross section sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) in heavy ion collisions has been investigated by means of the isospin-dependent quantum molecular dynamics (IQMD) with the isospin- and momentum- dependent interaction (IMDI(tau)). It is found that there are the very obvious medium effect and the sensitive isospin- dependence of nuclear stopping R on the in-medium NN cross section sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) in the nuclear reactions induced by halo-neutron projectile and the same-mass stable projectile. However, R induced by the neutron-halo projectile is obviously lower than that induced by the corresponding stable projectile. In particular, there is a very obvious dependence of R on the medium effect of sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) in the whole beam energy region for the above two kinds of projectiles. Therefore, the comparison between the results of R's in the reactions induced by the neutron-halo projectile and the corresponding same-mass stable projectile is a more favourable probe for extracting the information of sigma(1)(NN)(alpha) because of adding a new judgement.

Phase transition to color-flavor-locked matter and condensation of Goldstone bosons in neutron star matter

Deconfinement phase transition and condensation of Goldstone bosons in neutron star matter are investigated in a chiral hadronic model (also referred as to the FST model) for the hadronic phase (HP) and in the color-flavor-locked (CFL) quark model for the deconfined quark phase. It is shown that the hadronic-CFL mixed phase (MP) exists in the center of neutron stars with a small bag constant, while the CFL quark matter cannot appear in neutron stars when a large bag constant is taken. Color superconductivity softens the equation of state (EOS) and decreases the maximum mass of neutron stars compared with the unpaired quark matter. The K-0 condensation in the CFL phase has no remarkable contribution to the EOS and properties of neutron star matter. The EOS and the properties of neutron star matter are sensitive to the bag constant B, the strange quark mass m(s) and the color superconducting gap Delta. Increasing B and m(s) or decreasing Delta can stiffen the EOS which results in the larger maximum masses of neutron stars.

A mixing scheme for the structure of f(0)(600) and f(0)(1370)

Within the framework of a nonlinear chiral Lagrangian we explore the nontrivial nature of f(0)(600) and f(0)(1370) in terms of quarkonium, tetraquark and gluonium components. The mass constraints are obtained and the strong and radiative partial widths are calculated to demonstrate and discriminate these components. The static properties of f(0)(1500) and glueball are also studied. Our results are confronted with the experimental and theoretical data available as well as the upcoming measurements. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A high performance Time-of-Flight detector applied to isochronous mass measurement at CSRe

A high performance Time-of-Flight detector has been designed and constructed for isochronous mass spectrometry at the experimental Cooler Storage Ring (CSRe) The detector has been successfully used in an experiment to measure the masses of the N approximate to Z approximate to 33 nuclides near the proton drip-line Of particular interest is the mass of As-65 A maximum detection efficiency of 70% and a time resolution of 118 +/- 8 Ps (FWHM) have been achieved in the experiment The dependence of detection efficiency and signal average pulse height (APH) on atomic number Z has been studied The potential of APH for Z identification has been discussed (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

Changes in individual plant traits and biomass allocation in alpine meadow with elevation variation on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Plant traits and individual plant biomass allocation of 57 perennial herbaceous species, belonging to three common functional groups (forbs, grasses and sedges) at subalpine (3700 m ASL), alpine (4300 m ASL) and subnival (>= 5000 m ASL) sites were examined to test the hypothesis that at high altitudes, plants reduce the proportion of aboveground parts and allocate more biomass to belowground parts, especially storage organs, as altitude increases, so as to geminate and resist environmental stress. However, results indicate that some divergence in biomass allocation exists among organs. With increasing altitude, the mean fractions of total biomass allocated to aboveground parts decreased. The mean fractions of total biomass allocation to storage organs at the subalpine site (7%+/- 2% S.E.) were distinct from those at the alpine (23%+/- 6%) and subnival (21%+/- 6%) sites, while the proportions of green leaves at all altitudes remained almost constant. At 4300 m and 5000 m, the mean fractions of flower stems decreased by 45% and 41%, respectively, while fine roots increased by 86% and 102%, respectively. Specific leaf areas and leaf areas of forbs and grasses deceased with rising elevation, while sedges showed opposite trends. For all three functional groups, leaf area ratio and leaf area root mass ratio decreased, while fine root biomass increased at higher altitudes. Biomass allocation patterns of alpine plants were characterized by a reduction in aboveground reproductive organs and enlargement of fine roots, while the proportion of leaves remained stable. It was beneficial for high altitude plants to compensate carbon gain and nutrient uptake under low temperature and limited nutrients by stabilizing biomass investment to photosynthetic structures and increasing the absorption surface area of fine roots. In contrast to forbs and grasses that had high mycorrhizal infection, sedges had higher single leaf area and more root fraction, especially fine roots.

Characterization of saccharides and phenolic acids in the Chinese herb Tanshen by ESI-FT-ICR-MS and HPLC

This study sought to determine the main components (saccharides and phenolic acids) in crude extract of the Chinese herb Tanshen by electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonant mass spectrometry (ESI-FT-ICR-MS) in negative-ion mode. Eleven compounds were identified as phenolic acids by exact mass measurement and further confirmed by sustained off-resonance irradiation (SORI) CID data. In addition, monosaccharicles and oligosaccharides (n = 2 similar to 5) and a serial of corresponding anionic adducts of saccharide were observed without adding any anions additionally to the extract solution, and the anionic components were unambiguously identified as H2O, HCl, HCOOH, HNO3, C3H6O2, H2SO4 and C5H7NO3 according to the exact mass measurement results.

Extraction and separation of cadmium(II), iron(III), zinc(II), and europium(III) by Cyanex302 solutions using hollow fiber membrane modules

The mass transfer behaviors of Cd(II), Fe(III), Zn(II), and Eu(III) in sulfuric acid solution using microporous hollow fiber membrane (HFM) containing bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl)monothiophosphinic acid (commercial name Cyanex302) were investigated in this paper. The experimental results showed that the values of the mass transfer coefficients (K-w) decreased with an increase of H+ concentration and increased with an increase of extractant Cyanex302 concentration. The mass transfer resistance of Eu3+ was the largest because K-w value of Eu3+ was the smallest. The order of mass transfer rate of metal ions at low pH was Cd > Zn > Fe > Eu. Mixtures of Zn2+ and Eu3+ or of Zn2+ and Cd2+ were well separated in a counter-current circulation experiment using two modules connected in series at different initial acidity and concentration ratio. These results indicate that a hollow fiber membrane extractor is capable of separating the mixture compounds by controlling the acidity of the aqueous solution and by exploiting different mass transfer kinetics. The interfacial activity of Cyanex302 in sulfuric acid solution was measured and interfacial parameters were obtained according to Gibbs adsorption equation.

Determination of rare and rare earth elements in soils and sediments by ICP-MS using Ti(OH)(4)-Fe(OH)(3) co-precipitation preconcentration

A method was developed for the determination of trace and ultratrace amounts of REE. Cd. In. Tl. Th. Nb, Ta. Zr and Hf in soils and sediments. With NaOH-Na2O2 as the flux. Ti(OH)(4)-Fe(OH)(3) co-precipitation as the preconcentration technique and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for measurement, the whole procedure was concise and suitable for batch analysis of multi-element solutions. An investigation was carried out of the Ti(OH)(4)-Fe(OH)(3) co-precipitation system, and the results obtained showed that the natural situation of Ti tightly coexisting with Nb. Ta, Zr and Hf in geological samples plays a very important role in the complete co-precipitation of the four elements. The accuracy of this procedure was established using six Chinese soil and sediment certified reference materials (GSS and GSD). and the relative errors between the found and certified values were mostly below 10%.