Functional Characterization of Olfactory Proteins Involved in Chemoreception of Galeruca daurica.

Odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) and chemosensory proteins (CSPs) play a fundamental role in insect olfaction. Galeruca daurica (Joannis) is a new pest with outbreak status in the Inner Mongolia grasslands, northern China. In this study, six olfactory protein genes (GdauOBP1, GdauOBP6, GdauOBP10, GdauOBP15, GdauCSP4, and GdauCSP5) were cloned by RACE and expressed by constructing a prokaryotic expression system. Their binding affinities to 13 compounds from host volatiles (Allium mongolicum) were determined by fluorescence-binding assay. In order to further explore the olfactory functions of GdauOBP15 and GdauCSP5, RNA interference (RNAi) and electroantennogram (EAG) experiments were conducted. Ligand-binding assays showed that the binding properties of the six recombinant proteins to the tested volatiles were different. GdauOBP6, GdauOBP15, GdauCSP4, and GdauCSP5 could bind several tested ligands of host plants. It was suspected that GdauOBP6, GdauOBP15, GdauCSP4, and GdauCSP5 were related to the host location in G. daurica. We also found that there were different EAG responses between males and females when the GdauOBP15 and GdauCSP5 genes were silenced by RNAi. The EAG response of G. daurica females to 2-hexenal was significantly decreased in dsRNA-OBP15-injected treatment compared to the control, and the dsRNA-CSP5-treated females significantly reduced EAG response to eight tested host volatiles (1,3-dithiane, 2-hexenal, methyl benzoate, dimethyl trisulfide, myrcene, hexanal, 1,3,5-cycloheptatriene, and p-xylene). However, the EAG response had no significant difference in males. Both GdauOBP15 and GdauCSP5 may have different functions between males and females in G. daurica and may play more important roles in females searching for host plants.

Comparative Analysis of Transcriptome Responses to Cold Stress in Galeruca daurica (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae).

Galeruca daurica (Joannis) has become a new insect pest in the Inner Mongolia grasslands since 2009, and its larvae and eggs have strong cold tolerance. To get a deeper insight into its molecular mechanisms of cold stress responses, we performed de novo transcriptome assembly for G. daurica by RNA-Seq and compared the transcriptomes of its larvae exposed to five different temperature treatments (-10, -5, 0, 5, and 25°C for 1 h and then recovered at 25°C for 1 h), respectively. Compared with the control (25°C), the numbers of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) decreased from 1,821 to 882, with the temperature declining from 5 to -10°C. Moreover, we obtained 323 coregulated DEGs under different low temperatures. Under four low temperatures (-10, -5, 0, and 5°C), a large number of genes were commonly upregulated during recovery from cold stresses, including those related to cuticle protein, followed by cytochrome P450, clock protein, fatty acid synthase, and fatty acyl-CoA reductase; meanwhile, lots of genes encoding cuticle protein, RNA replication protein, RNA-directed DNA polymerase, and glucose dehydrogenase were commonly downregulated. Our findings provide important clues for further investigations of key genes and molecular mechanisms involved in the adaptation of G. daurica to harsh environments.

Characteristics of Chinese m-Health Applications for Diabetes Self-Management.

PURPOSE: To examine the features and types of health information provided in Chinese diabetes mobile applications (apps) for patients' self-management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through multiple rounds of screening, we identified a total of 95 relevant iOS (Apple, Cupertino, CA) and Android™ (Google, Mountain View, CA) apps and examined each app's features and health information types based on each app's description in the app stores. We used a 15-feature algorithm to evaluate the apps' abilities for supporting diabetic patients' self-management, based on U.S. national standards for diabetes self-management. We also adapted the health information wants framework to analyze the types of information that the apps provided for diabetic patients. RESULTS: Diabetes education was the most common feature, provided by 75% of the apps. Blood glucose checking was enabled by 65% of the apps. Diet management, insulin checking, and physical activity monitoring were enabled by 53%, 49%, and 44% of the apps, respectively. Only a small percentage of the apps enabled psychosocial support (29%) or tracking of blood pressure (14%), cholesterol (14%), or body mass index (11%). None of the apps provided all seven types of information posited by the health information wants framework. Only a small percentage of the apps provided information about psychosocial support (29%), healthcare providers (24%), or healthcare facilities (24%). Information about complementary and alternative medicine was the least likely type of information provided in the apps, with only 7% of the apps providing this type of information. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have important implications for improving the quality of Chinese diabetes mobile apps to facilitate patients' self-management.

A stewardship intervention program for safe medication management and use of antidiabetic drugs.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes patients are complex due to considerations of polypharmacy, multimorbidities, medication adherence, dietary habits, health literacy, socioeconomic status, and cultural factors. Meanwhile, insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents are high-alert medications. Therefore it is necessary to require a multidisciplinary team's integrated endeavors to enhance safe medication management and use of antidiabetic drugs. METHODS: A 5-year stewardship intervention program, including organizational measures and quality improvement activities in storage, prescription, dispensing, administration, and monitoring, was performed in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, People's Republic of China, a 3,200-bed hospital with 3.5 million outpatient visits annually. RESULTS: The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University has obtained a 100% implementation rate of standard storage of antidiabetic drugs in the Pharmacy and wards since August 2012. A zero occurrence of dispensing errors related to highly "look-alike" and "sound-alike" NovoMix 30(®) (biphasic insulin aspart) and NovoRapid(®) (insulin aspart) has been achieved since October 2011. Insulin injection accuracy among ward nurses significantly increased from 82% (first quarter 2011) to 96% (fourth quarter 2011) (P<0.05). The number of medication administration errors related to insulin continuously decreased from 20 (2011) to six (2014). The occurrence rate of hypoglycemia in non-endocrinology ward diabetes inpatients during 2011-2013 was significantly less than that in 2010 (5.03%-5.53% versus 8.27%) (P<0.01). Percentage of correct management of hypoglycemia by nurses increased from 41.5% (April 2014) to 67.2% (August 2014) (P<0.01). The percentage of outpatient diabetes patients receiving standard insulin injection education increased from 80% (April 2012) to 95.2% (October 2012) (P<0.05). Insulin injection techniques among diabetes outpatients who started to receive insulin were better than indicated in data from two questionnaire surveys in the literature, including the percentage checking injection sites prior to injection (85.6%), priming before injection (98.1%), rotation of injecting sites (98.1%), remixing before use (94.5%), keeping the pen needle under the skin for >10 seconds (99.4%), and using the pen needle only once (88.7%). On-site inspection indicated of great improvement in the percentage of drug-related problems in the antidiabetes regimen between the first and second quarter of 2014 (1.08% versus 0.28%) (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Quality improvements in safe medication management and use of antidiabetic drugs can be achieved by multidisciplinary collaboration among pharmacists, nurses, physicians, and information engineers.