With Chitosan and PLGA as the Delivery Vehicle, Toxoplasma gondii Oxidoreductase-Based DNA Vaccines Decrease Parasite Burdens in Mice.

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is an intracellular parasitic protozoan that can cause serious public health problems. However, there is no effectively preventive or therapeutic strategy available for human and animals. In the present study, we developed a DNA vaccine encoding T. gondii oxidoreductase from short-chain dehydrogenase/reductase family (TgSDRO-pVAX1) and then entrapped in chitosan and poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) to improve the efficacy. When encapsulated in chitosan (TgSDRO-pVAX1/CS nanospheres) and PLGA (TgSDRO-pVAX1/PLGA nanospheres), adequate plasmids were loaded and released stably. Before animal immunizations, the DNA vaccine was transfected into HEK 293-T cells and examined by western blotting and laser confocal microscopy. Th1/Th2 cellular and humoral immunity was induced in immunized mice, accompanied by modulated secretion of antibodies and cytokines, promoted the maturation and MHC expression of dendritic cells, and enhanced the percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. Immunization with TgSDRO-pVAX1/CS and TgSDRO-pVAX1/PLGA nanospheres conferred significant immunity with lower parasite burden in the mice model of acute toxoplasmosis. Furthermore, our results also lent credit to the idea that TgSDRO-pVAX1/CS and TgSDRO-pVAX1/PLGA nanospheres are substitutes for each other. In general, the current study proposed that TgSDRO-pVAX1 with chitosan or PLGA as the delivery vehicle is a promising vaccine candidate against acute toxoplasmosis.

Aesthetic preference in the spatial composition of traditional Chinese paintings.

Aesthetic psychology has discussed many aspects of aesthetic preferences for spatial composition. However, there have been few empirical explorations of the spatial composition of traditional Chinese paintings. The results of this experiment showed that the shape of the frame had a significant effect on aesthetic preferences. Participants preferred to put two figures at certain relative horizontal distances from each other according to the horizontal shape of the frame but may have difficulty in adapting the relative vertical distance according to the vertical shape of the frame. Furthermore, the unique aesthetic interest of traditional Chinese long-vertical scroll paintings was discussed. This discussion revealed that, in a creative way, ancient Chinese artists followed the same aesthetic principles we observed, and they developed the artistic conception and romantic charm of traditional Chinese paintings.

[Prognostic molecular classification of breast cancers based on gene expression profiling].

OBJECTIVE: To screen a set of gene markers related to metastasis and prognosis of breast cancer by comparison of gene expression profiles of primary breast cancers with distant metastasis to the cases without distant metastasis within 3 years follow-up, and to explore the clinical significance of those gene expression in prognostic molecular classification of breast cancer patients. METHODS: 5 cases with distant metastasis and 5 cases without distant metastasis within 3 years follow-up were used as training cases to compare their gene expression profiles by Oligo microarray hybridization containing 21 329 human functional genes. K-mean supervised cluster was done for 10 training cases and additional 20 testing cases based on the set of differential genes. "Leave-one-out" was used to eliminate useless genes to obtain optimal gene set that was used for prognostic molecular classification of breast cancer patients. RESULTS: The different genes screened out from gene expression profiling of primary breast cancers with and without distant metastasis could classify breast cancer patients into two sub-groups. All patients with distant metastasis were included in the "poor prognosis group" (7/10), whereas there were no case showing distant metastasis in the "good prognosis group" (0/20), with a statistically significant difference by exact probability test (P =0. 03). In the set of 104 optimal genes, all 5 genes involved in cell adhesion and migration were up-regulated in cases with distant metastasis, all 2 genes related to immune response of host were down-regulated, 11 genes related to cell growth and metabolism were up-regulated and 14 down-regulated, and 15 genes related to cell signal transduction were significantly changed. CONCLUSION: A set of genes involved in cell adhesion and migration, cell growth and metabolism, immune response mechanism, cell signal transduction were screened out by comparing gene expression profiles of primary breast cancers with and without distant metastasis within 3 years follow-up, showing highlight in prognostic molecular classification of breast cancer patients and hopeful would benefit to choose patient-tailored therapy strategies.