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Protein-Unfolding Factor may Help Tackle BSE.

Researchers Uncover Links between Fatty Acids and Suicide.

Singapore Scentists Use Viruses to Treat Neuronal Diseases.

Mab-Venture Biopharma & Thermo Fisher Establish Asia Pacific’s First “SmartFactory” for Antibody Drugs.

Venus Medtech’s TAVR Device Is Approved By CFDA, Creating A New Era of Interventional Cardiology in China.

Key Diabetes Receptor Structure Determined by International Collaboration.

China Sets Up National Lab Developing Brain-Like AI Technology.

Chinese Scientists Realize On-site Drug Detection.

Scientists Map Single-Copy HIV-1 Provirus Loci in Human Chromosomes in Live Host Cells.

Gene Variant Explains Differences in Blood Fatty Acid Levels.

Scientists Illustrate How Host Cell Responds to Zika Virus Infection.

Hong Kong News – Uni-Bio Science Launches Best-in-Class Oral Anti-Diabetic Drug Mitiglinide Branded “博康泰^®”(Bokangtai).

Cell membrane’s fatty acids (FAs) have been carefully investigated in neurons and platelets in order to study a possible connection to psychopathologies. An important link between the FA distribution and membrane dynamics appears to emerge with the cytoskeleton dynamics. Microtubules (MTs) in particular have been implicated in some recent quantum consciousness models and analyses. The recently proposed quantum model of Craddock et al. (2014) states that MTs possess structural and functional characteristics that are consistent with collective quantum coherent excitations in the aromatic groups of their tryptophan residues. These excitations are consistent with a clocking mechanism on a sub-nanosecond scale. This mechanism and analogous phenomena in light-harvesting complexes in plants and bacteria, are induced by photons and have been touted as evidence of quantum processes in biology. A possible source of intra-cellular photons could be membrane lipid peroxidation processes, so the FA profile could then be linked to the bio-photon emission. The model presented here suggests new ways to understand the role serotonin plays in relation to FAs. In plants, tryptophan conversion of light to exciton energy can participate in the directional orientation of leaves toward sunlight. Since serotonin is structurally similar to tryptophan, in the human brain, neurons could use tryptophan to capture photons and also use serotonin to initiate movement toward the source of light. Hence, we postulate two possible new roles for serotonin: (1) as an antioxidant, in order to counter-balance the oxidative effect of FAs, and (2) to participate in quantum interactions with MTs, in the same way as anesthetics and psychoactive compounds have been recently shown to act. In this latter case, the FA profile could provide an indirect measure of serotonin levels.

Inflammation is part of the host’s normal response to various harmful stimuli, including chemical exposure, tissue damage, infection, or contact with bacterial components, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS); however, excessive inflammation leads to various acute and chronic human diseases. Macrophages contribute to the inflammatory process by secreting inflammatory mediators, such as prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO), as well as proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1$\beta$, TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-6 and the excess of these mediators can be harmful to tissues and organisms. The RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cell line treated with LPS is a commonly used in vitro model for assessing anti-inflammatory efficacy. The base of conventional inflammation therapy is the use of steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, both of which have significant adverse effects. Therefore, finding new sources of less hazardous treatments is imperative. The anti-inflammatory qualities of bioactive lipids from crude extracts of the green alga Cladophora were investigated using ethanol and hexane-ether as two distinct solvents. As a result, the total lipid concentration of the hexane-ether extraction was higher, so the unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) were extracted from this sample by the methanol-solvent crystallization technique at low temperatures. The presence of various fatty acids and their percentage purity were determined by gas chromatography (GC). After the elimination of 49.11% of the saturated fatty acids, the spontaneous nanoemulsification approach was applied to improve the stability and functionalization of the fatty acids. The nanoemulsion particles’ size, distribution, and stability were evaluated using a Zetasizer system. The mean particle size and zeta potential value were 194.3 nm and −25.8 mV, respectively. Finally, the MTT (thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide) assay was used to determine the toxicity of the extracted bioactive lipids in the macrophage cell line RAW264.7 for 24 h, and the results showed an increase in the viability of cells treated with UFAs after encapsulation. The IC${}_{50}$ values calculated from the MTT assay results for each formulation and the anti-inflammatory effects of each formulation (at 1/3 IC${}_{50}$ value) were determined in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages by performing nitric oxide (NO) and cytokine enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Nanoemulsions of polyunsaturated fatty acids inhibited the production of NO and interleukin 6, which may be promising candidates for biological and medical applications to combat inflammation.

Temperature dependence of the dielectric constant of oleic acid with different degrees of purity was measured in the 233–313 K range. It was observed that the presence of impurities (palmitic and linolenic acids) strongly influences the dielectric constant, melting point and dipole moment of the oleic acid. The values of apparent dipole moment and the Kirkwood correlation parameters were evaluated using the Kirkwood's model and were estimated to be about 1.20, 1.61 and 2.27 D, respectively for 60, 90 and 97 wt% oleic acid.

Milk fat generally had a bad image for its relatively high content of saturated fatty acids that may increase plasma cholesterol in consumers. However, in the recent past, a lot of attention has been directed toward conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) that is naturally present in milk and its products. The formation of CLA is a part of process called biohydrogenation that takes place in the rumen, which converts linoleic acid to stearic acid. Hence, ruminants are the major reservoir for this fatty acid. Though, the presence of CLA in milk was known for a long time, there has been an explosion of interest in CLA research in the last two decades after the discovery that it possesses potential anticarcinogenic, antiatherogenic, anticholestrolemic and immuno-modulatory health benefits.

Standard approaches to evaluate the impact of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) on quantitative phenotypes use linear models. However, these normal-based approaches may not optimally model phenotypes which are better represented by Gaussian mixture distributions (e.g., some metabolomics data). We develop a likelihood ratio test on the mixing proportions of two-component Gaussian mixture distributions and consider more restrictive models to increase power in light of a priori biological knowledge. Data were simulated to validate the improved power of the likelihood ratio test and the restricted likelihood ratio test over a linear model and a log transformed linear model. Then, using real data from the Framingham Heart Study, we analyzed 20,315 SNPs on chromosome 11, demonstrating that the proposed likelihood ratio test identifies SNPs well known to participate in the desaturation of certain fatty acids. Our study both validates the approach of increasing power by using the likelihood ratio test that leverages Gaussian mixture models, and creates a model with improved sensitivity and interpretability.

Many fundamental questions remain regarding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of lipid metabolism. One major impediment to answering important questions in the field has been the lack of a tractable and sufficiently complex model system. Until recently, most studies of lipid metabolism have been performed in vitro or in the mouse, yet each approach possesses certain limitations. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) offers an excellent model system with which to study lipid metabolism in vivo due to its small size, genetic tractability and optical clarity. We have exploited the unique advantages of the zebrafish to visualize digestive processes in vivo by using a number of fluorescent tools, including fluorescent reporters of lipase and protease activity, fluorescent lipid analogs, and fluorescent microspheres. Using these tools with the zebrafish model system enables one to generate visible readouts of digestive physiology and organ function in real time. Additionally, the zebrafish system is amenable to high-throughput approaches to identify small molecules that influence lipid metabolism and new pharmaceuticals for the treatment of human lipid disorders. In this chapter we present recent advances in visualizing lipid metabolism in live larval zebrafish with a focus on fatty acid metabolism.

Fatty acids (FA) are structural constituents of cell membranes, play functions and energy metabolic reserves, besides forming hormones, and bile salts. Several studies suggest that fatty acids are beneficial to human health, preventing cardiovascular disease, colon cancer, and immune diseases. Filamentous fungi of the Mucoralean order are known to produce fatty acid of omega 6. In this sense, we investigated the production of polyunsaturated fatty acids, PUFAs by Cunninghamella elegans UCP 542 (Mucoralean fungus), using glycerin as alternative substrate carbon source, in order to minimize the production of costs.