Chemistry and Toxicology of Major Bioactive Substances in Inocybe Mushrooms

Mushroom poisoning has always been a threat to human health. There are a large number of reports about ingestion of poisonous mushrooms every year around the world. It attracts the attention of researchers, especially in the aspects of toxin composition, toxic mechanism and toxin application in poisonous mushroom. Inocybe is a large genus of mushrooms and contains toxic substances including muscarine, psilocybin, psilocin, aeruginascin, lectins and baeocystin. In order to prevent and remedy mushroom poisoning, it is significant to clarify the toxic effects and mechanisms of these bioactive substances. In this review article, we summarize the chemistry, most known toxic effects and mechanisms of major toxic substances in Inocybe mushrooms, especially muscarine, psilocybin and psilocin. Their available toxicity data (different species, different administration routes) published formerly are also summarized. In addition, the treatment and medical application of these toxic substances in Inocybe mushrooms are also discussed. We hope that this review will help understanding of the chemistry and toxicology of Inocybe mushrooms as well as the potential clinical application of its bioactive substances to benefit human beings.     

A study of the local site effects on the ground response for the city of Eskişehir,Turkey

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - Local soil characteristics play a key role in determining soil-structure interaction and reliability of the superstructure behavior under...     

Multiresolution coding techniques for digital television: A review

Multiresolution decompositions for video coding are reviewed. Both nonrecursive and recursive coding schemes are considered. In nonrecursive schemes, it is shown that pyramid structures have certain advantages over subband or wavelet techniques, and a specific spatiotemporal pyramid coding of HDTV is discussed in some detail. It is shown that recursive, DPCM like schemes will incur a slight loss of optimality due to a restricted form of prediction if multiresolution decomposition with compatible decoding is required. Compatibility and transmission issues are also discussed. Multiresolution transmission for digital broadcast TV is introduced. This, when combined with multiresolution source coding, achieves spectrum efficiency, robustness and graceful degradation under channel impairments.Invited PaperWork supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants ECD-88-11111, MIP-90-14189 and Bell Communications Research.Work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants ECD-88-11111. K.M. Uz is now with David Sarnoff Research Center in Princeton, NJ 08543.     

基于XML和N层VSM的Web信息检索

基于XML文档格式良好、层次清晰，可以方便地操纵、分析其结构的特点。文中在将Web上的HTML文档转化为XML文档的基础上，通过Java中的DOM树，分析文档的层次结构。把文档分为层次化的文本段，对传统的VSM算法进行改进，把每个文本段转换为空间向量，实现了N层VSM算法，通过试验证明，改进后算法的查全率和查准率都要优于传统的VSM算法。     

On/off cycling under multiple stresses

The authors describe an experiment, a model, and an analytic method for on/off vs. continuous policy evaluation. The methodology was developed and verified through experimentation. An experimental life-test of small DC motors was designed and performed; it involved on/off cycling vs. continuous operation under multiple stresses. A stress-factor reliability model based on the two-parameter Weibull proportional-hazards life distribution was fitted to the data. The analysis provides an estimate of the model parameters for the life distribution of the DC motors under two operating policies, while under multiple stresses. The characteristic life was related to the explanatory covariates: voltage, on/off cycling, and load. Due to the proportional hazards (common Weibull shape) nature of the model, acceleration factors were calculated to relate the stress levels. The reliability model was extended to develop a simple rule to aid in a decision between on/off cycling and continuous-run policies (to achieve higher reliability). The proposed model (with covariates) allows a much broader approach to reliability modeling than the usual Weibull model (without covariates) because it predicts the reliability under various environmental combinations     

Subcellular Localization of Acyl-CoA: Lysophosphatidylethanolamine Acyltransferases (LPEATs) and the Effects of Knocking-Out and Overexpression of Their Genes on Autophagy Markers Level and Life Span of A. thaliana

Arabidopsis thaliana possesses two acyl-CoA:lysophosphatidylethanolamine acyltransferases, LPEAT1 and LPEAT2, which are encoded by At1g80950 and At2g45670 genes, respectively. Both single lpeat2 mutant and double lpeat1 lpeat2 mutant plants exhibit a variety of conspicuous phenotypes, including dwarfed growth. Confocal microscopic analysis of tobacco suspension-cultured cells transiently transformed with green fluorescent protein-tagged versions of LPEAT1 or LPEAT2 revealed that LPEAT1 is localized to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), whereas LPEAT2 is localized to both Golgi and late endosomes. Considering that the primary product of the reaction catalyzed by LPEATs is phosphatidylethanolamine, which is known to be covalently conjugated with autophagy-related protein ATG8 during a key step of the formation of autophagosomes, we investigated the requirements for LPEATs to engage in autophagic activity in Arabidopsis. Knocking out of either or both LPEAT genes led to enhanced accumulation of the autophagic adaptor protein NBR1 and decreased levels of both ATG8a mRNA and total ATG8 protein. Moreover, we detected significantly fewer membrane objects in the vacuoles of lpeat1 lpeat2 double mutant mesophyll cells than in vacuoles of control plants. However, contrary to what has been reported on autophagy deficient plants, the lpeat mutants displayed a prolonged life span compared to wild type, including delayed senescence.     

Adenosine Receptor Agonist HE-NECA Enhances Antithrombotic Activities of Cangrelor and Prasugrel in vivo by Decreasing of Fibrinogen Density in Thrombus

Blood platelets’ adenosine receptors (AR) are considered to be a new target for the anti-platelet therapy. This idea is based on in vitro studies which show that signaling mediated by these receptors leads to a decreased platelet response to activating stimuli. In vivo evidence for the antithrombotic activity of AR agonists published to date were limited, however, to the usage of relatively high doses given in bolus. The present study was aimed at verifying if these substances used in lower doses in combination with inhibitors of P2Y₁₂ could serve as components of dual anti-platelet therapy. We have found that a selective A_2A agonist 2-hexynyl-5’-N-ethylcarboxamidoadenosine (HE-NECA) improved the anti-thrombotic properties of either cangrelor or prasugrel in the model of ferric chloride-induced experimental thrombosis in mice. Importantly, HE-NECA was effective not only when applied in bolus as other AR agonists in the up-to-date published studies, but also when given chronically. In vitro thrombus formation under flow conditions revealed that HE-NECA enhanced the ability of P2Y₁₂ inhibitors to decrease fibrinogen content in thrombi, possibly resulting in their lower stability. Adenosine receptor agonists possess a certain hypotensive effect and an ability to increase the blood–brain barrier permeability. Therefore, the effects of anti-thrombotic doses of HE-NECA on blood pressure and the blood–brain barrier permeability in mice were tested. HE-NECA applied in bolus caused a significant hypotension in mice, but the effect was much lower when the substance was given in doses corresponding to that obtained by chronic administration. At the same time, no significant effect of HE-NECA was observed on the blood–brain barrier. We conclude that chronic administration of the A_2A agonist can be considered a potential component of a dual antithrombotic therapy. However, due to the hypotensive effect of the substances, dosage and administration must be elaborated to minimize the side-effects. The total number of animals used in the experiments was 146.     

Experimental and Established Oximes as Pretreatment before Acute Exposure to Azinphos-Methyl

Poisoning with organophosphorus compounds (OPCs) represents an ongoing threat to civilians and rescue personal. We have previously shown that oximes, when administered prophylactically before exposure to the OPC paraoxon, are able to protect from its toxic effects. In the present study, we have assessed to what degree experimental (K-27; K-48; K-53; K-74; K-75) or established oximes (pralidoxime, obidoxime), when given as pretreatment at an equitoxic dosage of 25% of LD₀₁, are able to reduce mortality induced by the OPC azinphos-methyl. Their efficacy was compared with that of pyridostigmine, the only FDA-approved substance for such prophylaxis. Efficacy was quantified in rats by Cox analysis, calculating the relative risk of death (RR), with RR=1 for the reference group given only azinphos-methyl, but no prophylaxis. All tested compounds significantly (p ≤ 0.05) reduced azinphos-methyl-induced mortality. In addition, the efficacy of all tested experimental and established oximes except K-53 was significantly superior to the FDA-approved compound pyridostigmine. Best protection was observed for the oximes K-48 (RR = 0.20), K-27 (RR = 0.23), and obidoxime (RR = 0.21), which were significantly more efficacious than pralidoxime and pyridostigmine. The second-best group of prophylactic compounds consisted of K-74 (RR = 0.26), K-75 (RR = 0.35) and pralidoxime (RR = 0.37), which were significantly more efficacious than pyridostigmine. Pretreatment with K-53 (RR = 0.37) and pyridostigmine (RR = 0.52) was the least efficacious. Our present data, together with previous results on other OPCs, indicate that the experimental oximes K-27 and K-48 are very promising pretreatment compounds. When penetration into the brain is undesirable, obidoxime is the most efficacious prophylactic agent already approved for clinical use.     

Curing of epoxy systems at sub‐glass transition temperature

Three epoxy‐amine thermoset systems were cured at a low ambient temperature. Evolution of the reaction kinetics and molecular structure during cure at the sub‐glass transition temperature was followed by DSC and chemorheology experiments. The effect of vitrification and the reaction exotherm on curing and final mechanical properties of the epoxy thermosets was determined. Thermomechanical properties of the low‐temperature cured systems depend on the reaction kinetics and volume of the reaction mixture. Curing of the fast‐reacting system in a large volume (12‐mm thick layer) resulted in the material with T_g exceeding the cure temperature by 70–80°C because of an exothermal temperature rise. However, the reaction in a too large volume (50‐mm layer) led to thermal degradation of the network. In contrast, thin layers (1.5 mm) were severely undercured. Well‐cured epoxy thermosets could be prepared at sub‐T_g temperatures by optimizing reaction conditions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 3669–3676, 2006     

Use of ultrasonic energy in reactive dyeing of cellulosic fabrics

The use of ultrasonic energy in dyeing cotton fabrics with monochlorotriazine and vinylsulphone reactive dyes has been studied spectrophotometrically. The dyeings carried out conventionally and by the use of ultrasonic techniques were compared in terms of percentage exhaustion, total amount of dye transferred to the washing bath after dyeing, fastness properties and colour values of the dyed materials. Overall results have shown that the use of ultrasound in reactive dyeing of cellulosic fabrics can result in energy savings, less water consumption, increased depth of colour and better process conditions.